


Remember, Remember...

by JustAnotherBlonde



Series: A Lifetime of Moments [18]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidents, Anal Sex, Blood, Blood and Injury, Camping, Drinking, Dynamite, Explosions, Explosives, Family Drama, Fights, Fireworks, Fist Fights, Gay Sex, Implied ItaKarin, Intrigue, Knife fights, M/M, Medical Procedures, Near Death, Rock Climbing, Skinny Dipping, Trauma, Yakuza, implied sex work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:27:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28338459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherBlonde/pseuds/JustAnotherBlonde
Summary: Deidara needs to get rid of his dynamite before Sasuke tries something desperate to kill Itachi. Two birds, one stone: the Dawn Climbers take "Team Snake" on a trip to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, use the dynamite, and keep a watchful eye on Sasuke. Everything goes so well that all begin to wonder whether some things really are fated to be...“JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR,” Deidara announced, still grinning, “You’ve been invited on this trip because we don’t trust you, Saucepan. You try anything, and I will use two years of military training on your ass faster than you can say ‘it was an accident officer, I swear.’ Mn.”
Relationships: Deidara/Sasori (Naruto)
Series: A Lifetime of Moments [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878778
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. Gunpowder Treason and Plot

**Author's Note:**

> [tropicalgothic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tropicalgothic) helped me write chapters 5-9. without spoiling anything, i needed expertise that i severely lacked and tropicalgothic STEPPED UP. thank you SO MUCH, my beautiful friend.
> 
> JustAnotherVampire beta read the whole damn thing. so many thanks.
> 
> all the big "warnings" for chaps 2-9 are in the tags already (i think), but i'll possibly need to update tags/summary/this note as i post the final chaps... watch this space, my loves.
> 
> chapter titles for this story are all Guy Fawkes (Night) quotes. enter [here](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes) (Wikipedia) if you want to know more about the quotes and Guy Fawkes.
> 
> chapters are all the length of my usual full pieces, so the plan is to post one every two weeks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasori returns from his conference; a nervous Deidara picks him up at the station.

“Picking up your girlfriend, dear?” a little granny wheezed beside Deidara’s elbow, causing him to jump half a step to the left. Where had she come from?! To be fair, he was standing in the center of the train station’s busy concourse…

She stared up at Deidara through enormous, thick-lensed spectacles.

“Uh…” Deidara shifted from foot to foot and tried to hold the bunch of roses in his sweaty fist a little less conspicuously. She looked from the roses to his face expectantly. In the end he went with the truth: “No, mn.”

The granny squinted and cocked her head in confusion, but when it became apparent that no further explanation was forthcoming, she waddled away.

Deidara exhaled. Where was Sasori’s train? His gaze drifted up to the timetable board once more. Three more minutes until scheduled arrival, Platform 4. He walked a little closer to the platform, not wanting Sasori to miss him.

A train pulled into Platform 4. Deidara craned his neck over the crowd of people pouring out of the cars. The air filled with the sound of rolling suitcases and general murmuring.

There! A bright red head appeared.

It took all of his self-control not to——Deidara broke into a run, meeting Sasori at the end of the platform. Sasori smiled as soon as he saw Deidara.

“Hi,” Deidara said breathlessly. He held the roses behind his back.

“Hi.” Sasori was radiant. He leaned to the side, making a show of trying to peep behind Deidara. “Have you got something there?”

“Oh!” Deidara revealed the flowers, realizing Sasori must have seen them as he approached. “Uh… for you, mn.”

Sasori released his grip on his small red suitcase; Deidara stepped forward to take it as he passed Sasori the flowers. The roses were the same fiery red as Sasori’s hair, just seven of them with their stems trimmed short—Deidara had balked at the size and heft of a bouquet of a full dozen long-stemmed roses and opted for something a little subtler. His heart was banging in his chest as he watched Sasori smell them and smile, looking up with clear brown eyes.

“They’re lovely,” he said as they began to walk out into the central atrium. Then his face twisted into a sly grin. “What did you do?”

“What?!” Goosebumps prickled up Deidara’s arms and the back of his neck. “What did I do?? I did nothing! I’ve been so good! I cleaned the apartment! I…” He wracked his brain. “I did all my dishes. I wiped down the counters. I even scrubbed the bathtub, but that was mostly because I clogged it with my hair—”

Sasori’s soft laughter cut into Deidara’s tirade. They both stopped walking, caught in a swirl of people coming and going near the exit, rushing to catch their train or buy a ticket. Sasori held the roses up to his face to cover his smile. He hooked his arm around Deidara’s elbow and tugged him close to his side.

“You realize that saying all that just makes you sound even guiltier, yes?” he said, shooting Deidara a conspiratorial sideways glance. Deidara’s mouth dropped open a little.

Affronted, he stuck his chin up. “Well, I’ve never experienced guilt in my life all my life, so I wouldn’t know what you’re talking about, mn!” he asserted with a toss of his head. “The flowers are to congratulate you for getting into that National Gallery exhibition, puppet-head, mn.”

“It’s ‘puppet-head’ now, is it?” Sasori exclaimed, eyebrows lifted. “What happened to Scorpion? Sasori-danna? Have you forgotten I’m your seminar leader again this semester?”

Deidara pulled Sasori forward, resuming their walk out of the station. It was chilly, threatening rain with all the conviction of a playboy proclaiming undying love. The little red suitcase bumped along beside Deidara, its wheels flicking wet grit onto the cuff of his faded black jeans. He focused his gaze on the pavement as they fell into step with each other. Sasori’s question made him think of the conversation he’d had with Itachi last month about the teaching assistant contracts… What if the wrong people _did_ find out? They didn’t need that complication added to the rest of the drama they were already meddling in.

When the silence grew long enough for Sasori to realize Deidara wasn’t going to respond, he changed tack: “Did you do any exhibitions while I was away?”

Deidara shook his head. “No, but I’ve been working on something, mn.”

“Oh, that’s right, what did you end up doing with the—”

“Geez, what’s got into you!” Distracted, Deidara barely avoided splashing through a puddle. “Do you want someone to hear? Mn.”

Sasori blinked. There were people on the street, but it wasn’t crowded.

“I’ve never known you to be so cautious,” Sasori said slowly, slowing his gait as well. “What’s got into _you_?”

Sucking in a lungful of chill autumn air, Deidara squeezed Sasori’s arm. He needed to feel close to Sasori just then.

“I dunno…” Deidara replied uneasily. His gaze flicked around as they walked, scanning the street for familiar faces. “Maybe I’m getting paranoid…”

“Why?”

“Vinny wouldn’t take it back, mn.”

Sasori’s step faltered, but they carried on walking.

Lowering his voice so only Deidara could hear him, he replied, “So it’s still in your warehouse?”

“Yeah,” Deidara replied in an equally low murmur. “And get this: I’ve already caught Sasuke snooping around there. This kid… I don’t trust him! Befriending him isn’t going to work, Sas. And you haven’t even met him yet… mn.”

Sasori shook his head. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to speak to the police…”

Deidara pulled his arm free and stopped walking. The suitcase skidded to a halt. He had stopped in front of the entrance to a shopping arcade, one of those beautifully well-kept ones, iron arches and railings painted light blue with stained-glass accents in the vaulting ceiling.

Pressing a palm to his chest, Deidara said, “And get _me_ in trouble?? They wouldn’t give a shit about a kid lurking around a warehouse full of art supplies, so we’d have to tell them about the dynamite, but then they would have to ask what the hell I’m doing with it and where my explosives license is, mn!”

“Is there such a thing?”

“OF COURSE THERE IS!” Deidara hissed, trying to whisper and shout at the same time. He took another step into the arcade, seeking somewhere further from the busy street. “I’ve downloaded the form but they need all this personal information like your address and passport number and a plan of the storage site, plus it’s not cheap, cuz you have to pay for a certificate to store explosives as well as the license—Vinny has one but—”

Sasori stepped forward, drawing Deidara aside. There was a small spiral staircase leading up to the second level of the arcade: he brought Deidara over to the space beneath it.

“Darling, you’re rambling, and honestly, none of this is helping the situation. If you had a license, we could go to the police—”

“It’s not happening, mn.”

Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose. “Then you have to get rid of it, Deidara.”

“I can’t rush an exhibition, I’ve already—” Deidara expelled an exasperated sigh. “Look, let’s just get home first, okay? Mn.”

Now that they were standing face to face, Sasori got a closer look at Deidara’s cornrows. He reached out and touched them, then curled one of the trailing plaits around his finger.

“You didn’t do these yourself, did you?” he asked, a light grin playing on his lips.

Sasori’s dark amber eyes were completely mesmerizing, clearing Deidara’s mind of everything that weighed on it. Deidara shook his head. Sasori continued to toy with the braids which wove through the rest of Deidara’s unbound hair.

“No, Itachi-san did them… mn,” Deidara replied dreamily, eyes half closed.

He snapped his eyes open and leaned forward, as did Sasori. Their lips met in a slow, sweet kiss.

“I missed you, mn,” Deidara said breathlessly, nuzzling Sasori’s cheek.

“I missed you, too, my love. Let’s get home. You can tell me about what you’ve been working on while we walk.”

Deidara’s eyes flashed as an idea came to him: he couldn’t reveal what he’d been working on until Sasori’s birthday, which was on the 8th, next week at the end of Reading Week, which meant that Guy Fawkes Day would fall during Reading Week, which meant there would be no classes on Deidara’s favourite holiday and he would be free to plan something _big_ , maybe even a trip out of town. What better way to celebrate Sasori’s birthday and Bonfire Night than with an enormous explosion?

“I’ll do you one better,” Deidara said. “I know what we can do with our ‘sticky’ little problem, mn.”

It took Sasori a moment to get the joke: “Right, because dynamite comes in sticks… What’s your plan?”

He took Sasori’s hand—the one without the roses—and they walked out of the arcade together.

Unable to gesture with his hands as they walked, Deidara turned his body to face Sasori as much as was possible.

“Right,” he said brightly. “Get this: Dawn Climbers. Reading Week Expedition. BONFIRE NIGHT. Mn.”

Sasori frowned. “That’s only next week. Do you think there’s enough time to plan something?”

“I can call Itachi right now, mn. Remember that cliff we checked out in August? It’s in the middle of nowhere, and there’s that huge quarry Itachi found. I can do a display that will have Guy Fawkes rolling in his grave at what mighta been, mn.”

“And you want to do this as a trip? Bring the whole club?”

“Yeah! I’m not gonna do a display without an audience! Hell, let’s even invite Sasuke! Mn.”

Sasori eyed him, mentally working through the logistics of organizing a week-long trip for Dawn to the quarry. The club had camping equipment already, a few tents and two camp stoves… Everyone would need their own sleeping bags and rollmats, but they still had a few days to shop… Yes…

“And if we invite Sasuke,” Sasori said thoughtfully, “we can keep an eye on him. Keep his hands where we can see them, as it were…” He nodded. “Let’s do it.”

*

As they rounded the corner onto Sasori’s street, Sasori turned to Deidara, struck by a thought.

“I still can’t get over you talking about calling Itachi up like it’s nothing. You used to hate him. What’s changed?”

Deidara’s mouth was suddenly quite dry. He swallowed. “We’ve… he’s… he’s been helping me with my project, mn.”

“Oh?” Sasori raised his eyebrows as he regarded Deidara. “How interesting. Can you tell me more?”

“Um… not yet, mn.” Deidara didn’t want to attract suspicion by avoiding Sasori’s eyes, so he made eye contact and smiled.

Sasori searched Deidara’s face, but did not press further.

They entered the apartment building and Deidara lifted the suitcase up the stairs. At the top, as Sasori pulled out his key he said, “I think I want a shower before even thinking about dinner. Is that alright?”

Deidara nodded. “I can call Itachi while you’re in the shower, see what he thinks about the plan.”

“Don’t tell him too much about the dynamite—”

“Hey, he already knows Sasuke’s got his eyes on the dynamite—he was leaving the warehouse with me when we spotted him. I couldn’t keep that from him, mn.”

“And what else does he know? You didn’t tell him Kabuto’s been giving me updates on Sasuke, did you?” Sasori looked horrified at the idea that his plot might have been revealed.

“No, of course not! We spent a lot of time together while you were away, but we never talked about Sasuke. And he still won’t tell me about his parents… After all those hours, I honestly thought he would give me something…mn.”

Sasori arched an eyebrow. “This just makes me even more curious to know what you’ve been working on.”

Deidara laughed one of those nervous laughs, a release of pressure. “You’ll find out soon enough! Mn.”

For good measure he pecked Sasori on the cheek before the red-head disappeared into the bathroom for his shower.

*

Deidara wandered the apartment with his phone at his ear; consciously avoiding the bathroom door. Itachi picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?” Itachi greeted.

“Hey, Itachi, can you talk right now? Mn.” Deidara had made it over to the window by the bed.

He peered outside at the street below, quietly lit by slanting evening sun.

“What is it? Did you pick up Sasori alright?”

“Yeah, no problems… Hey, listen…” He lowered his voice to a whisper and sat down on the bed: “Do you think we can finish the kintsugi this week? Sasori and I just had the idea to organise a Dawn Climbers trip during Reading Week, and I was thinking we could make it a kinda joint Bonfire-Night-slash-Sasori’s-birthday celebration…thing. mn.”

“There’s not a lot of time to plan a trip,” Itachi replied, sounding concerned.

“Between you and Sasori, I’m sure we can rally the troops, mn. We can even invite Sasuke. What do you say?”

“What? Why…” Itachi trailed off and was silent for a long moment. Deidara sank down onto the bed while he waited for Itachi’s response. His thoughts wandered… _I wonder if there’s anything in the quarry I could blow up… Would save using clay for a statue… We’ll need barrages from Vinny… mn._

When Itachi spoke again his voice was strangely soft and gentle: “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Deidara jumped up from the bed, pleased that the plan was moving forward. If he was honest with himself though, he was most excited about figuring out how to use the dynamite…

“Great! I guess you should coordinate with Sasori and Kisame to get the van and—”

Itachi cut him off with a short laugh: “Listen to you, trying to plan something!”

“Ha! I plan things all the time! How do you think I pulled off the Summer Fleet, mn?” Deidara twirled a braid around his finger and wandered over to the sofa. He sat, curled up his legs and gazed out the window at the setting sun.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Itachi said. “Sage said he was gonna call you in for that installation. He can’t prove it was you—there’s not enough evidence—but he mentioned that he wanted a meeting…”

“Aw, who the fuck cares what that old fart thinks, mn! I’d gladly admit—”

“I suggest you don’t,” Itachi said darkly. “Sage is facing some kind of external auditing for the art department at the end of the calendar year. Seems like he’s looking to tie up loose ends, tidy up anything that might reflect badly on us…”

“Art is art!” Deidara exclaimed. “He can’t tell me—”

“Deidara, you’ll find he can,” Itachi said sternly. “How badly do you want this degree? Are you willing to throw it away for your art?”

He had a point, but it wasn’t just that he genuinely wanted to study for this degree. If he got kicked out of school, his parents would cut him off again, and he would be hard-pressed to find a job that paid enough to casually purchase clay and explosives. Plus, he didn’t dare impose on Sasori anymore than he already did. Just last month Sasori had quietly asked him to start pitching in on groceries as his teaching assistant salary really wasn’t enough to feed the both of them as well as pay rent and utilities. _Good lord, I think I’m starting to become… RESPONSIBLE, ugh,_ Deidara thought with a grimace.

“Fine. I understand, mn.”

“What do you understand? Did Itachi say no?”

Deidara jumped a foot in the air like a startled cat at the sound of Sasori’s voice. Sasori was standing by the end of the sofa in a pair of soft sweatpants and his Dawn hoodie with a towel around his neck.

“Geez!” Deidara exclaimed, heart pounding. “How do you do that, mn?”

“What’s wrong?” came Itachi’s voice from the phone held loosely in Deidara’s hand.

Staring wide-eyed at Sasori like he was a ghost or a mummy or something equally terror-inducing, Deidara replied in a mockingly light tone, “Oh nothing, just my ninja of a boyfriend sneaking up on me like a silent-but-deadly scorpion, mn.”

Itachi laughed. “Tell him I say ‘Hi’ and ‘welcome back’.”

“Itachi says ‘Hi, welcome back’ and that you should stop sneaking up on me like that.”

Deidara batted his eyelashes as Sasori gracefully sank onto the sofa beside him. Sasori kissed him on the cheek and they both rearranged themselves so that Sasori could stretch out on the sofa, resting back against Deidara-the-pillow, who extended his legs on either side of Sasori.

Sasori also took Deidara’s hand in his, wrapping the arm beneath his own.

“I know he didn’t say the last part, my love,” he said, tilting his head to look at Deidara above him.

Deidara dipped his head down to plant an upside-down kiss on Sasori’s forehead. _How I’ve missed you_ , he couldn’t help but think.

He set his phone on Sasori’s belly and switched it to speaker.

“So what do you think of Deidara’s idea?” Sasori asked Itachi.

“Seems doable,” Itachi replied, his deep voice much less dramatic filtered through Deidara’s poor phone speakers. “Kisame was just asking me if I had any plans for Reading Week and we figured we’d at least cycle somewhere, spend a couple days climbing… He told me he has some holiday time saved up.”

“That’s great!” Deidara exclaimed. “We need him to drive, mn.”

Itachi laughed. “Yeah, the two of you are pretty useless in that respect. You need to upgrade your license, Deidara. I could ask Hidan—”

“NO!” both Sasori and Deidara exclaimed. They looked at each other.

Sasori continued, “What we mean is… by all means ask him on the trip, but after what happened last time—”

“That man should not be allowed behind the wheel. Of anything. He has a death wish, mn.”

“Have you seen him on his motorcycle??” Sasori added. “Like a bat out of hell.”

“Fine, fine,” Itachi conceded.

It took the better part of half an hour to discuss logistics and divide tasks: Itachi would book the van and notify the club, Sasori would plan meals, and Deidara would arrange the “festivities,” including necessary safety precautions. Itachi confirmed that there was an abandoned car in the middle of the quarry that would serve as the perfect demolition object. Sasori’s gift wasn’t mentioned, but Deidara knew he needed to have it finished before the trip.

When Itachi hung up, Deidara looked down at Sasori and smiled softly. He made Sasori sit up, then maneuvered his leg so he could snuggle in beside Sasori on the inner side of the sofa. Sasori rotated so that they were facing, but Deidara wiggled down so his cheek pressed into Sasori’s chest. He wrapped his arms around Sasori’s back, feeling the weight of him. Their legs intertwined.

“When we get back,” Deidara murmured, “I have a birthday present for you. It’s the project Itachi and I have been working on, mn.”

Sasori’s chin was on top of Deidara’s head, so he couldn’t look up into his eyes.

“I guessed as much,” Sasori murmured back. “But I can’t figure out what it could be. I can only assume it’s a statue that isn’t going to explode, since it’s a gift for me and you know how much I hate that...”

Deidara smiled to himself. Sasori must really have believed Deidara had thrown away the wrecked pottery that day, or he surely would have been able to connect the dots by now. He was smart like that.

“It’s a coffee mug that says ‘World’s Best Scorpion’, mn,” Deidara joked, nuzzling into Sasori with his entire body like an overly-friendly house cat.

“Oh, just what I’ve always wanted!” Sasori retaliated by running his hands up and down Deidara’s sides, seeking ticklish spots and finding them. His puppet-master’s fingers knew exactly how much pressure to apply for maximum torture.

“No! No!” Deidara writhed away, yet also pressed his body closer. “I surrender! I mean, I confess! It isn’t a mug! It’s a bag! A m-massive m-m-man-purse! For your ego! Ah! Y-you must get tired carrying it around all the time, and in your advanced age—”

“I’ll just have to stop that mouth of yours before you get yourself into trouble, _young man_ ,” Sasori mocked.

Deidara had already maneuvered himself into position. He accepted the kiss and surrendered his body to Sasori.


	2. A Desperate Disease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Dawn Climbers, "Team Snake" Bonfire Night Expedition, Day 1**  
>  Deidara, Sasori and Kisame resolve to keep a close eye on Sasuke, despite Itachi's insistence that it is unnecessary; Deidara and Sasori share an intimate evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here there be smut, my friends 😈 please enjoy!!! it's a very special moment.

By Monday evening the next week, everything was ready. Not everyone from Dawn was free (notably Kakuzu and Hidan, who had surprisingly already arranged their own trip to Mallorca, nor Konan and Yahiko, who wanted to spend time with family during Konan’s week off, or even Nagato, who needed to stay behind to run Pain Studio), but in the end not only did they convince Sasuke to come, but he insisted on inviting three of his friends from the Snake Den, employees of Orochimaru named Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo.

They rented a van to drive out to the quarry, something larger than usual to fit all the camping gear. At some point earlier, the name list had been forced on Deidara while Sasori and Itachi loaded the van.

“Let’s see… Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, check, check, check,” Deidara said to himself. He looked up. “Kisame, sharkboy, also present—nice hat, Sammy, mn.”

Kisame saluted him as he passed by, touching two fingers to the black, white and blue knit Nordic ski hat he wore. It had grown cold now that they had entered November and most everyone was wearing multiple layers. Deidara pulled on the end of his scarf—red and black to match the brand-new Dawn Climbers hoodie he had ordered at the start of term—and wrapped it one more time around his neck.

“Tobi?” Deidara scanned the carpark. “Where’s Tobi, mn? Anybody seen him?”

Sasuke sidled over to peer at the list. “No, he told me—what did you draw next to my name?? Is that a steaming poo? What the fu—”

“Sasuke!” came a voice from the other end of the carpark. “We’re here!”

Deidara looked up to see two of Sasuke’s three friends walking slowly across the pavement. They were both male, in their twenties at least and one of them was massively tall. He had spiky ginger hair and a gentle face.

“What’s the weather like up there, mn?” Deidara couldn’t help but ask when they were close enough.

The tall guy stared down at Deidara impassively. From his clothing he looked like he worked as a bouncer or hired muscle. Deidara had never seen him at the Snake Den before—he would have remembered. There was an enormous rucksack on the tall man’s back, while the smaller guy dragged along a small, slightly sparkly rolling suitcase. He had pale, silvery hair—dyed, most likely—and was wearing a puffy metallic blue down jacket. This one Deidara was sure he’d seen at Snake Den before, but he couldn’t remember what he did there.

The silver-haired one grinned and declared with a flourish, “Juugo is a man of few words. I’m Suigetsu, and I’ll be your entertainment this evening.”

Taking in the man’s sparkling purple-irised eyes, clear complexion, and soft, effeminate figure, Deidara remembered where he’d seen him before.

“Oh! You’re one of the dancers, mn.”

“I do more than dance,” Suigetsu replied, leering with oddly pointy teeth. “Have you ever been upstairs?”

Deidara grinned. He liked this guy’s energy. And from what Deidara knew about the Snake Den’s ‘upstairs,’ Suigetsu had basically just confessed to being an escort.

“Suigetsu, behave,” Sasuke warned. His hands were jammed in the pockets of his black fleece and his cheeks were flushed from the cold.

Suigetsu propped an arm on his hip and shot Sasuke an unimpressed look. “Sasuke-kun, your new bar management privileges do not make you my boss. I answer only to—” His eyes widened as he spied someone crossing the carpark. He jumped behind Juugo. “Karin.”

A twenty-something woman with bright red hair spiked up on one side and plastic-rimmed glasses was striding towards them. She was no taller than Deidara, but her fur-trimmed, knee-high winter boots had high platforms. She walked in a way that suggested she would not shy from applying the sole of her boot to your face. The boots, mini-skirt and fishnets wouldn’t have been Deidara’s first choice for a camping trip, but seeing how she rocked them, he was beginning to question his choices. She wore a slim-fitting lavender down jacket cinched at the waist with a thick white belt.

“Suigetsu, I see you there!” she growled. Her voice was deep for a woman’s, but one that could probably sound quite cute if she wanted it to.

“Hi, Karin,” came Suigetsu’s voice, muffled by the enormous rucksack he was clinging to.

“Hi, Karin,” rumbled Juugo, voice deep like rock fall.

“Sasuke-kun!” Karin gushed, proving Deidara’s guess about her ability to sound cute. She threw her arms around the grumpy young Uchiha and rubbed her cheek against his. Sasuke had a long-suffering look on his face that told Deidara he was used to such treatment.

Karin turned to Deidara. “And you are? Where do I put my bag?”

Deidara pointed to the van, and she stomped off before Deidara could introduce himself. Suigetsu tagged after her, with Juugo close behind. Deidara turned to Sasuke.

“So I guess we’re just waiting for Tobi, mn.”

“I was trying to tell you: Tobi’s not coming. He called me just before I got here.”

“Oh. Did he say why, mn?”

Sasuke shrugged. He leaned sideways to peer around Deidara at Sasori and Itachi slamming shut the back of the van.

“Looks like it’s time to go…” His eyes followed Itachi’s back like a hawk staring down prey.

“Give it up, Sasuke, mn,” Deidara sighed. “Have you even said ‘hi’ to him yet?”

Sasuke shifted his dagger-glare onto Deidara. “I’m not here to make nice,” he said.

Deidara rolled his eye. “No, you’re here to murder your brother in front of six witnesses, mn.”

Sasuke bristled at this. “What do you know, huh?” He puffed his chest up and stepped into Deidara’s personal space. “Maybe I don’t care anymore. Maybe I’ll make that tall guy crash the van—”

In two swift movements, the clipboard with the name list clattered to the ground and Sasuke cried out in pain. Deidara had Sasuke’s arm locked out straight behind his body, forcing it upward until Sasuke collapsed down on one knee.

“OW!” Sasuke shouted. His eyes rolled wildly as he tried to locate his friends.

Deidara didn’t stop there. As the others ran over—Sasori, Itachi, Karin, Suigetsu—he forced Sasuke forward until his chin scraped the pavement and he lay flat on his belly. Then Deidara dug his knee into Sasuke’s back and grinned up charmingly at the crowd hovering around them.

“JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR,” Deidara announced, still grinning, “You’ve been invited on this trip because we don’t trust you, Saucepan. You try anything, and I will use two years of military training on your ass faster than you can say ‘it was an accident officer, I swear.’ Mn.”

Looking up to gauge everyone’s reactions, Deidara was surprised to see concern on Itachi’s face. _What the fuck, is he worried about me hurting his little brother?_ Sasori’s expression was much better: he was actually smiling a tiny little bit, his eyes gleaming. Deidara’s grin spread wider. It would be a lie to claim he wasn’t enjoying this burst of adrenaline. Suigetsu picked his nose, bored, but Karin’s face was a mask of shock and confusion:

“Wh-what are you doing to him?! Get off!” She stepped forward but Juugo—who had materialized when Deidara wasn’t looking—threw out an arm to stop her. He met her eyes and shook his head. He murmured something to her that Deidara didn’t quite catch. She backed down but her eyes smoldered.

Deidara released his knee, but kept hold of Sasuke’s wrists. Leaning down so he was eye-to-eye with the young Uchiha, he said: “Why don’t you nod to show you understand, mn?”

Half of Sasuke’s face was still flush to the pavement, but the eye that Deidara could see flared with no small amount of rage. They locked stares for several long seconds, during which Deidara twisted Sasuke’s wrists sharply upward.

“Ow! Fine,” Sasuke spluttered. He nodded.

Deidara pulled him to standing, making a big show of dusting him off and straightening the collar of his fleece.

“Now, I have a very spectacular Bonfire Night display planned for all you heathens,” Deidara announced, “although I doubt you possess the refinement necessary to appreciate my art. Everyone except Sasori.” He waved a hand. “And maybe Itachi, mn.”

“Regardless, it’ll be a Bonfire Night to remember!” He began to quote: “‘Remember, remember, the Fifth of November…’ I forget the rest, but I promise it will be a display that old Fawkesy would have been proud of, mn!” He pressed a hand onto Sasuke’s shoulder. “And _that’s_ the purpose of this trip, _not_ murder. Got it, Snotskay?”

They locked glares one last time. Sasuke did not look ready to back down.

Itachi stepped forward. He picked the clipboard up off the ground and flipped the page, then looked around at everyone.

“I guess while we’re all gathered I might as well make a few announcements about the trip…”

Kisame walked over to stand at Itachi’s side, while Sasuke fled from Deidara to stand between Karin and Juugo. Karin fussed over him a little, but he shook her off.

Sasori stepped over to Deidara, standing behind him and throwing an arm over his shoulders. He kissed Deidara on the cheek and whispered, “Nicely done.”

Smiling, Deidara cuddled closer so that his back pressed against Sasori’s torso and Sasori’s arm draped over his chest. He caught Sasori’s hand in his own and massaged it with his thumb. Everything was going to plan.

Itachi continued: “We’re going to be camping for six nights near the quarry. The campgrounds have basic facilities, like toilets and even a shower—it’s pretty shitty but at least there’s running water. During the day there’s climbing, hiking, maybe swimming in the quarry lake if you’re insane—”

“Did he say swimming?” Karin muttered to Sasuke. “I didn’t bring a suit.”

“Skinny dipping or you’re not allowed in, mn,” Deidara called across the loose circle they formed. “It’ll be freezing.”

“What about food?” Suigetsu piped up. “I was told there’d be proper food, but you just said we’re camping…”

“The campsite has a kitchen facility and we are bringing camp stoves,” Itachi replied. “We’ll stop at a supermarket on the way for supplies.”

“Is anyone vegetarian?” Sasori asked.

Only Juugo raised his hand.

Suigetsu spun to look at him. “You’re vegetarian? How did I not know that?”

Juugo shrugged a shoulder.

“Anyone else? Any food allergies?”

“Sasuke’s allergic to peanuts,” Itachi said immediately, before Sasuke or Karin, who had also been about to speak, could say anything.

“You remember that…?” Sasuke breathed. The anger clouding his face dissipated for a brief moment, but it swiftly returned.

Sasori regarded him coolly. “Good to know. Could you write that down for me, Itachi?”

With a nod, Itachi marked up the name list and then asked: “Any more questions before we get going?”

“What happens to Sasuke if we feed him peanuts, mn?”

Deidara managed to utter the whole question before Sasori pinched his waist. “Ay!” he yelped, jumping aside and attempting retaliation. Sasori blocked his hands.

“He goes into anaphylactic shock, Deidara. Please don’t try it,” Itachi sighed. “If there are no more questions, get your asses in the van.”

As everyone turned away, Deidara leaned over and spoke into Sasori’s ear, so low voice that only Sasori could hear.

“We buy peanuts anyway as insurance, mn?”

Deidara pulled back and saw that Sasori’s eyes were glittering.

“Of course, darling,” he replied with a smirk.

*

They arrived at the campsite well after dusk, having spent more time than intended at the supermarket. Sasori had no trouble picking out meat and vegetables for each day’s meal: he had plenty of experience feeding previous Dawn trips to be able to efficiently estimate amounts. What had taken the longest was Team Snake (as Sasori had started to think of them) deciding what alcohol to bring and how to pay for it. Karin wanted a case of wine (“We’re camping for six nights. We need more than a couple bottles”) but didn’t want to pay for it all herself (“It’s for sharing!” Suigetsu: “You’d never!”) while Sasuke insisted that he wouldn’t drink much (Suigetsu: “Liar! I always catch you drinking my alcopops!”) and wouldn’t pick anything for himself (Juugo: “Just split a crate of beer with me.” Sasuke: “Fine.” Kisame: “Get another one of those, Itachi and I’ll pitch in.” Sasuke: “…”) Sasori and Deidara bought several bottles of saké for themselves, a bottle of nice whisky to share with Itachi and a bottle of mediocre whisky to share with the rabble. In the end Sasuke, Juugo and Suigetsu paid for Karin’s wine.

At the till, Itachi had spotted Deidara trying to buy peanuts and removed them from the cart, but this was a ruse: earlier when the Snake children were bickering over alcohol purchases, Sasori had slipped through the checkout with a small bag and hidden them in his jacket pocket. Just in case.

The road to the campsite’s main gate was a dirt track which crunched beneath the wheels of the van. It was heavily wooded; the trees sank into dark shadows, illuminated only by the head- and taillights.

“Spooky…” Suigetsu murmured as he stared out the window. “Feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere.” He turned in his seat, one of the individual ones on the right side of the van. “Sasuke-kun, do you know any good ghost stories?”

Sasuke, who was squeezed between Sasori and Deidara in the second row, fixed Suigetsu with a glare. The seat was meant for two, not three. The back row had been flattened to accommodate all of the camping equipment, rope and miscellaneous bags, leaving two single seats and three rows of bench seats. The third row seat was piled with bags.

Deidara’s dynamite, various tools and an extravagant selection of fireworks barrages were tucked deep beneath the back row seat, blocked in by bags and rope to prevent anyone from tampering with them. The first row (which _was_ meant for three) was entirely occupied by Karin. She was currently lounging, laid out flat on her back with a book inches from her nose.

As they pulled up, Karin sat and stretched luxuriously.

“Is this it?” She squinted out the window into the darkness. “I can’t see anything…”

The campgrounds were empty. Only university students had this week off, and clearly very few of them found pleasure in traveling to such a remote area for rock climbing.

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Sasori remarked. “That’s good, we won’t have to share the kitchen with anyone. I’m going to need some help with dinner…” He looked around the van, sizing up likely candidates.

Juugo shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

Suigetsu turned in his seat to stare. “Seriously Juugo? I am seeing you in an entirely new light.”

“I actually cook for everyone in the house-share,” he muttered.

“That settles it, I’m moving in with you guys—”

“You can’t,” Karin cut in. “A) there aren’t any vacancies and B) you haven’t passed probation.” She crossed her arms. “We’ll talk about this later.”

“Fine,” Suigetsu sighed, twirling a strand of his hair around his fingers.

Kisame parked the van in front of the main office, and Itachi turned to face everyone.

“I’ll go check in with the grounds operator. Sasori, you, Deidara and Kisame are in charge of unloading the van and everyone needs to help set up tents. The club tent sleeps four to six people depending on how cozy you want to get in the internal compartments—I think we even managed all ten of us in there last summer... But we also have a couple two-man tents—”

“Sas and I call dibs, mn,” Deidara interjected. He jerked his elbow to nudge Sasori in the ribs but forgot that Sasuke was between them.

“Ow” was Sasuke’s tired response. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

Karin’s glasses flashed as she pushed them up the bridge of her nose. “The other one is mine. I don’t care if most of you are gay, I still don’t want to sleep next to any of you…”

“That’s fair,” Itachi nodded.

“That leaves Kisame in charge of making sure Sasuke doesn’t slit Itachi’s throat in the night, mn,” Deidara said with a laugh.

“I got your back, man,” Kisame said, planting a hand on Itachi’s shoulder.

Itachi sighed and gave Kisame and Deidara each a pleading look.

“Look, can’t you guys just drop this? Let’s go.”

*

The dynamite stayed locked in the van, and the keys rotated between Kisame, Deidara and Sasori. They didn’t tell Itachi: he had made it clear that he thought their measures were unnecessary, although Sasori noticed that he never said their fears were unfounded. In fact, Itachi made no moves to avoid Sasuke. They never spoke, but while the group was setting up the tents and preparing dinner, Sasori often discovered Itachi working silently side-by-side Sasuke, in Sasori’s eyes putting himself in a vulnerable position if Sasuke were to try anything.

Late that night, bellies full of Japanese-style curry and an ample amount of saké, Sasori and Deidara prepared for sleep in their two-man tent. From the sounds of things next door, Suigetsu, Juugo, Sasuke, Itachi, Kisame and Karin were still awake and drunkenly conversing.

Flicking on a small lantern, Sasori turned to Deidara, who was zipping up the tent flap.

“Do you think Itachi was acting strange today?” Sasori said as he began his evening skincare ritual, filling the tent with the scent of creamy lavender. It didn’t matter how much he drank: nothing could have prevented him from remembering to wash his face. But he had not drunk as much as he might have: observing the Uchiha all evening had been a more pressing task.

Deidara pulled his ponytail out and shook his head. “You mean stranger than usual, mn?”

Midway through applying moisturiser to his face from a travel-sized pot, Sasori replied, “Yes… I can’t help but get the feeling that he’s almost inviting Sasuke to try something.”

“What? Why would he do that? Makes no sense, mn,” Deidara said as he pulled off his shirt. He shivered—even inside the tent the air was still chilly. He hadn’t drunk enough: it was swiftly leaving his system, no longer providing a nice barrier of warmth against the night.

Sasori tugged off his trousers and slipped his legs into the two-man sleeping bag they’d created by zipping two together. He rummaged through his duffel bag, located his pills, shook them out of their respective containers and swallowed the lot dry. Seated, he turned to Deidara and pursed his lips.

“Maybe you’re right… but we can’t let our guard down at all this week. Bonfire Night is Wednesday, right?”

Deidara nodded as he passed Sasori a bottle of water and crawled over to Sasori’s side. His own throat hurt from watching Sasori choke down a fistful of pills like that.

Sasori continued, “So you’re spending tomorrow and presumably most of Wednesday setting up…”

Deidara was less than graceful as he tugged off his skin-tight jeans—even after a year of Dawn trips, he had yet to adopt anything remotely resembling Itachi’s climber-chic, although he had at least packed some sweatpants for when they hit the crag.

Instead of crawling into the sleeping bag, Deidara settled onto Sasori’s lap. Sasori widened his legs so Deidara could sit in the hollow between them. He nuzzled Deidara’s neck, placed his hands on Deidara’s bare back. Deidara cuddled closer, then frowned at Sasori’s long-sleeved shirt. He pulled it over Sasori’s head as he replied:

“Yeah, shouldn’t take too long. Prepping the car will take the longest. Laying the wire will be easy. And like we planned, Sasuke will stay with me while the rest of you hike or climb or skinny dip—please don’t do that without me darling, mn—”

Sasori interrupted him with a peck on the lips, which Deidara chased and returned. They shared a smile.

“We’ll save it for our hangover day on Thursday, I promise,” Sasori replied.

He reached up and clicked off the lantern.

Deidara swung his legs into the sleeping bag and they both snuggled down together, twisting limbs around limbs.

His lips in Deidara’s hair, Sasori said, “This might actually be nicer than our bed at home…”

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a lump digging into my—”

Sasori pinched him in that ticklish spot again. “What sort of lump might that be?”

“Ah! Oh, that tickles... mn. How are you so good at finding my spots?"

"You can't keep secrets from me, my love."

Deidara’s insides dropped away. Did Sasori already know about Itachi?? No, no... and even if he did find out... would he understand? Deidara swallowed the confession. It wouldn’t help anything. _Lock it up like you’ve locked up so many of these useless memories,_ he told himself. _Better yet, forget it, mn. Let it go and move on._ Things were already better than normal with Itachi. It was like the hookup had been something to get out of their systems, clearing the stage for an actual friendship.

“I’m all yours, darling,” Deidara murmured, smoothing his hands up Sasori’s naked back. “Every inch of me, mn.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Sasori replied, his voice so lusty and low it was almost a growl. He rolled so that he was above Deidara, supporting his weight on an elbow until Deidara pulled him down.

“You’re hard…” Deidara breathed, searching for Sasori’s eyes in the near-dark. Light from the lanterns next door filtered through the thin material of their tent wall. “Do you want to… try…?”

With a husky laugh, Sasori pressed his hips into Deidara’s and his face into the crook of Deidara’s neck. “The walls are too thin…”

As if on cue a hearty peal of raucous laughter rose from the tent next door, followed by a shriek—Karin? Or Suigetsu? If there had been other campers on site they would undoubtedly be filing a noise complaint, given the hour and decibel level. But if the others were busy, perhaps…

“It’s not just…the…” Sasori struggled to get the words out. “I mean… I’m…” He kept trying, but coherent sentences were not forthcoming. “Just… you, know, in case… after?”

“It’s up to you, mn.” Deidara was firm. But his cock was also rock hard, his body flushed with desire.

Placing his mouth right against Sasori’s ear, he said in a low, throaty voice: “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I want you, Sasori.” He inhaled as if the air was made of daggers; his body was hot, throbbing. “I want _you_.”

But in the next instant, worried that saying such things might harm rather than help, he added, “I will do _anything_ you want. _Only_ if you want it. And I’ll be there for you afterwards. Just like last time. Just like every time, mn.”

Sasori responded first with his body: he pressed closer, as if he could remove every particle of air between them. He lifted his head and their lips met, hungry teeth and tongues. _It’s a risk, it’s a risk_ , he thought. _But this place is so different. In a tent…? I have no memories like this. It would be something new. Something just for_ us _._

“We could try…” he said, out of breath. “This place is so different… it might be better…?”

Deidara brought his hands up to Sasori’s face, holding it like something rare and precious, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, raking his fingers through soft red hair.

“Did you bring anything? Did you even think we’d—”

Sasori nodded, kissing Deidara’s thumb, his hand. “I almost didn’t… but… I thought…”

It was still hard for Sasori to verbalise. _I thought… It’s my birthday, and I love you. I want to heal._

He rolled away and dove for his duffel bag. The two items he was looking for were tucked into a side pocket beside the van key, hidden yet easy for Sasori to find. Both items were new, packaging seals yet to be broken. He passed one to Deidara.

“Oh, this is a good brand, mn,” Deidara commented as he peeled the plastic away and cracked open the box. He shook it once—why was shaking a box of condoms such a satisfying sound?—then set it down near their pillows. Sasori placed the lube beside it.

The sleeping bag was not spacious, but Deidara was still able to slip off his underwear, kicking it down to the foot of the bag, not caring if he ever located them again. Sasori did the same, and they returned to the same position, with Sasori slightly on top of Deidara.

He moved his hips so that his erection pressed next to Deidara’s. A moan tripped out of his mouth; nothing compared to the sensation of skin against skin, bodies free from everyday trappings, hiding nothing. _I am in control,_ he told himself, repeating the words in his mind again and again. _I am with Deidara, nothing else, no one else. I am here_.

Starting with a kiss… Deidara’s lips had a magic to them: kissing them cleared Sasori’s mind like hot, white, purifying flame. Tongues. Closer. Could he get any closer? They were locked together, mouths, hands—Sasori’s fingers gripped Deidara’s ass, sinking into flesh and muscle—hips, legs—

He slipped his leg between Deidara’s and rolled so that Deidara could be on top.

Deidara drew a gasping breath as they broke apart. His hair fell across his chest, tickling Sasori’s face. Sasori pushed it aside, flipped it over Deidara’s shoulder as Deidara descended for another kiss. Reaching hands, Sasori ran his palms up Deidara’s muscular back, shoulders, sinewy arms, then back down again. He took Deidara’s ass in both hands, kneading it like clay. Deidara stifled a moan.

_He likes that,_ Sasori noted. He continued to explore. Deidara curled into Sasori’s torso.

“Mm, Danna,” he murmured. “Keep going.”

Still within the sleeping bag, they shifted position so that Sasori could reach; his fingers flicked across Deidara’s entrance, advancing into territory previously unexplored. Starting with… one. Index finger. Around the rim. Circling. Pressing. Entering.

Deidara’s hot breath fanned against Sasori’s neck. He sighed as Sasori’s finger slipped deeper. His guts twisted and clenched, dark pleasure. It was… _so different_ having _Sasori_ inside him. Sasori’s fingers. Finger. Long and thin. Deft. Sensing. It moved with a subtle rhythm, searching for…

“Oh…” Deidara sighed, as Sasori’s fingertip tapped against his prostate. Once. Again. Again. He sucked in a shuddering breath, nuzzling into Sasori’s neck, kissing it, biting it—

“Enough,” Sasori growled, turning his head to intercept Deidara’s busy mouth. But he was smiling, pleased at Deidara’s reactions. His heart pounded; heat rose in his chest, in his belly, in his groin. Deidara, beloved and beautiful...

“—feels so good, hah, mn,” Deidara breathed, the words tumbling into Sasori’s mouth in between kisses.

The space between them became wetter: pre-cum, Deidara’s.

Another finger pressed in beside the first. Deidara took it with a tiny grunt of pain, panting. His body warmed all over as it absorbed the simultaneous discomfort and pleasure. He couldn’t help but remember the evening that was not supposed to have happened, how good it had felt to be touched there. He would die rather than say a word about it to Sasori, though.

Their mouths met again, soft, wet. Hungry. Deidara pulsed his hips into Sasori’s belly, aware now that after they shifted position, Sasori’s cock was below his ass, so close… If he sat back…

“Sasori…” A shuddering inhale. “Tonight, tomorrow, ten years from now… I want to feel your cock inside me, mn.”

_Something new._ Why had he not realized this before? Deidara, a bottom? Sasori almost became angry with himself, then let it pass. He pushed aside memories, countless memories of bottoming, pushed aside rare memories of being allowed to top, and focused.

He planted a kiss on Deidara’s open mouth and extracted his fingers. Deidara gasped, cried out at the sudden action.

Sasori reached for the box, snatched a condom.

“How?” was his question as he ripped open the package.

“H-however you like, mn,” was Deidara’s immediate response. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Sasori nodded, the action felt rather than seen in the darkness, then passed Deidara a condom. “Put this on. I don’t want to have to wash the sleeping bag.”

Deidara laughed, but complied. The two-man sleeping bag was not quite big enough for both of them to complete this action, however, so Sasori pulled himself out and sat on his pillow. The air in the tent had warmed considerably.

“From behind,” Sasori ordered. He knelt, then sank back on his heels.

Deidara crawled out of the sleeping bag on his hands and knees, taking time to kiss Sasori on the lips, once, twice, three times, before turning around and sitting backwards on his lap. He twisted his torso, raised his hand to caress Sasori’s head; they kissed again, a half-kiss, a full kiss, then Sasori pushed him forward onto his hands and knees. He passed Sasori the lube.

Sasori applied it himself, massaged Deidara’s entrance once more. His heart thundered in anticipation— _this is something new, something new, something for Deidara, something for me, for us_ —he was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine.

“I’m ready,” he whispered, so softly it might have only been for himself to hear. Deep down, he knew perhaps he would never be fully ready. But he had to try if he wanted to get better. Everything was going to be fine.

He pressed his hips forward, guided himself to Deidara’s entrance. Slowly. Entering. Entering. _Oh_ … Entered.

They shuddered together as he bottomed out. _Yes_ …

Sasori started moving inwards and outwards. Slowly at first. Slowly. Enjoying the sensations: slipping like velvet, the tightness, the smells that filled the tent, the smell of Deidara, himself, the lube, the condoms, the grass crushed beneath the tarp. He pulled himself into the moment, began to build speed. More lube. Slicker, faster. Could he find that spot again?

Yes. Deidara moaned, collapsed onto his forearms. Sasori placed a hand on Deidara’s lower back, then gripped Deidara’s hips with both hands as he increased his tempo.

“Ah…!” Deidara cried. “I’m close…hah…”

Sasori pumped faster; their flesh slapped; he changed tempo, slow then fast; mind cleared of everything, he focused. Getting there… getting there…… there…… there… there!

He came just as Deidara cried out, muffled into the pillow. Deidara’s hips pulsed backwards as they each rode out their own waves. A release. A warmth like sunlight filled Sasori’s mind and body.

_How many years…?_ Emptied now, Sasori extracted himself and prepared for the maelstrom of emotions that was surely imminent.

Silently, almost reverently, he sank onto Deidara’s back; Deidara rolled aside, maneuvered his arm beneath Sasori’s head and pulled him into a close embrace, staying above him so that Sasori’s face nestled into Deidara’s chest. Neither of them could ignore the tears streaming down Sasori’s cheeks.

Deidara brushed at them with his thumb, but in the next moment tears were leaking down his own cheeks as well.

“Th-they’re happy t-tears” Sasori choked. He wasn’t sure if he was telling this to Deidara or himself. Deidara’s embrace tightened as Sasori’s body began to shake. Tears flooded his face, soaked into the pillow, slicked up Deidara’s chest, but they held each other.

Somehow this moment felt more intimate than the one they had just shared: not only were their bodies stripped naked, but the veil Sasori kept over his mind was lifted, too. He was utterly exposed, and loved in spite of his flaws.

“I love you, Deidara,” he said, pushing the words through gasping breaths, eyes squeezed shut.

“I love you, too,” came Deidara’s small whisper. Tears pearled at the corner of his eye and dripped across the bridge of his nose. “You are perfect just as you are; you must know that, mn.”

“How did you think to say such a thing? Are you reading my mind now?” Sasori laughed wetly.

Deidara tightened his embrace; Sasori pressed closer. If he died and went to heaven, perhaps it would be to exist forever inside this embrace.

But for now there were more pressing, earthly concerns. Sasori shifted away and began to clean up, searching in the dark for the plastic bag he’d prepared for trash earlier, and tissues… or were there wipes? Deidara sat up and helped look.

“How do you feel, mn?” Deidara asked.

Sasori passed him a wet-wipe and assessed himself.

“I don’t feel… gross, but… I… It’s hard to express…? I… It’s… It’s not exactly good. I’d be lying if I said I feel totally good right now, my love. But I do. I do feel good, part of me. Some part. Satisfied? Emptied? Emptied of something that wasn’t supposed to be there…”

“You should start writing poetry, mn,” Deidara commented sleepily as he slid back into the sleeping bag.

Looking down at Deidara, recumbent and peaceful, Sasori smiled. _No, I don’t feel totally good… but I don’t feel half-bad either…_

He slipped into the sleeping bag and they drifted off to sleep.


	3. Requires a Dangerous Remedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Dawn Climbers, "Team Snake" Bonfire Night Expedition, Day 2**  
>  In the wee hours of the morning, Sasori encounters Itachi emerging from Karin's tent; Deidara and Sasuke "work together" to set up the Guy Fawke's Night pyrotechnics - does it count as bonding if Deidara still can't stand the little shit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe a weird note, but i just want to warn you that part of Sasori's morning face-care routine is to shave? this is a modern AU, he's not a puppet, so he has to do normal man things, like shave. idk, just thought i'd warn you first!
> 
> also, [flapjacks ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapjack_\(oat_bar\))as referred to in this story are the British kind, also known as an 'oat bar.' kinda like an oatmeal cookie? but fatter.

Sasori woke up first, pulled awake by nearby birdsong. Muted grey light seeped through the tent walls, but the sun had not yet risen. The air in the tent was chill, but their bodies were warm if a little sweaty. Sasori extracted himself from Deidara's arms and legs, located his shirt and a fresh pair of underwear and began to get dressed.

He checked the time: 7:30. _Like clockwork,_ he thought, taking stock of how he felt. Difficult to assess. A light breeze rippled the tent fabric. He reached for his hoodie and a thicker pair of socks. Deidara did not stir—in fact he was drooling all over Sasori’s pillow. Sasori frowned. And then he sighed and snatched his toiletry bag.

Slowly unzipping the tent so as not to startle Deidara with any sudden noises or movements, he poked his head out. The campgrounds had an eerie mystery to them in this pre-dawn light. Wisps of fog trailed between the tents and obscured some parts of the dry-stone-wall boundaries around the campgrounds. The main office and bathrooms sat near the tree-line like sullen toads.

Movement not far from the other two-man tent caught his attention. Someone was… coming out of the tent? Walking past? It was hard to tell, but as the figure passed into view he was surprised to see that it was _not_ Karin.

“Itachi?” Sasori called in a low voice. He sat up and slipped his feet into his shoes.

Itachi slowed his steps when he noticed Sasori. His was an incredibly sheepish expression, and it wasn’t just his facial features: his entire body was emanating a happy, blushing embarrassment. Sasori’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

Sasori stood. In two steps he had his arm linked with Itachi’s and was leading him over to the bathrooms.

When they were far enough away from the tents, Sasori turned to Itachi with dancing eyes and a wicked grin on his lips.

「Spill, Itachi-kun! What’s with that face?」 There was no mistaking it now: Itachi was completely avoiding Sasori’s gaze, which meant he was guilty as sin.

「It’s nothing…」 Itachi rubbed the back of his head. His hair was down but looking decidedly ruffled.

「Liar.」

They arrived at the bathrooms. Sasori dragged Itachi inside. He propped him up against the wall then moved to lay out his things on the counter by the sink. 「No breakfast for you until you spill.」

「The rest of them won’t be up for hours, Danna,」 Itachi rubbed his eyes, first with one hand, then with both. 「No point in even _mentioning_ breakfast…」He leaned tiredly against the cold, painted cinder block wall as Sasori picked up his toothbrush.

「Plenty of time for you to explain why you’re blushing like a new bride,」 Sasori said with his toothbrush in his mouth. Their eyes met through the mirror’s reflection and Itachi instantly grinned.

Sasori turned. 「What is it?! You hooked up with her last night, just say it! You’re being ridiculous.」He turned back around and resumed brushing his teeth, eyes closed.

「No! Nothing happened. I was just… putting her to bed…」

Sasori spit into the sink and turned around again. 「Only now? It’s 7am!」

Itachi shrugged. 「There was a lot of wine…」

「So you didn’t hook up with her, but you still look guilty. Why?」 Sasori took out his shaving supplies: he had always preferred a blade to an electric razor. As Itachi responded, Sasori began to lather his face with shaving cream.

「She did kiss me, I confess,」 Itachi said, pushing himself off the wall to pace across the space. He rested his hands on the top of his head. 「And it was nice…」

Sasori guided the razor blade down the sides of his face in swift, steady strokes. 「It’s been a while since a girl caught your eye, Itachi-san. What was that one you saw in third year called? The one from Snake Den?」

「Anko? She was a bit much for me… I never saw much of her after she left the Den… I had more fun with the guy I started seeing right after her…」

Sasori splashed water on his face and reached for his cleanser. He loved that this brand made travel sized versions of his favourite products.

「So what's there to like about this Karin then?」 Sasori asked as he massaged his cheeks. He counted up the seconds in his head, aiming for one hundred and twenty. 「She seems tough…」 He recalled how last night she had found every excuse she could think of to berate Suigetsu, admonish Juugo and gently correct Sasuke. She seemed less certain about how to treat the Dawn members, but she’d quickly taken to shouting over Deidara every time he tried to speak.

Itachi shook his head. 「Not when it’s just her alone … Last night we were the last two to sleep.」 He laughed. 「Kisame challenged Sasuke and his friends to a drinking contest some time around 2…? They all passed out pretty quickly… But Karin really can drink, or maybe she was cheating, I'm not really sure… Anyway… It's not that she wasn’t drunk—she was—but that tough guy act she put on all night kinda faded at some point after they all disappeared. She seems lonely…」

「She's been working for the Snake since her freshman year, if I’m not mistaken. I heard Kabuto recruited her from the psychology department…」

「You know more than I do,」 Itachi shrugged. 「She told me she's in her last year of a psychology postgrad doctoral thing, but also seems to run the Snake's upstairs business…」

Sasori rinsed his face and patted it dry with his travel towel.

「That's right,」 Sasori responded as he applied a serum of hyaluronic acid and aloe to his cheeks in a series of small pats. 「A strange affinity, but that's the influence Kabuto has had on operations—from what I've gathered, they are trying to combine sex services with therapy? That, or train the escorts to manipulate people better… My information is limited.」

He looked up to see Itachi was flagging: he leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, staring at the floor.

「Danna, I'm tired… I think I'll go lie down for a bit…」 Itachi rubbed his eyes.

「I won't start breakfast until everyone is up. Get some rest. We need to get Deidara's stuff to the quarry today.」

「I was surprised that he left to go to bed so early last night,」 Itachi yawned. 「He usually goes full throttle when alcohol is involved…」

Sasori flushed and suddenly became very interested in the SPF 30 moisturiser he held. _SPF 15 after swimming, how interesting…_

「Wait…」 Itachi stepped closer and examined Sasori's face: the grin that seemed to have a mind of its own, the sparkling eyes, the softness of his brow… 「You guys did something last night, didn't you?」

Sasori nodded, eyes smiling beneath his long eyelashes as he gripped the sink. 「Finally…」

「‘Finally’?? You mean you—」

「That’s right…」 Sasori turned around and leaned back on the sink. He folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, replaying the evening in his mind.

Itachi didn’t say anything: he was waiting for Sasori to continue.

Sasori looked up at him. 「Turns out he’s a bottom—but you knew that, didn’t you?」

「Yeah…」

This was a conversation like so many of their other conversations: the words which went unspoken said everything that needed to be said. It was something which, if he cared to explore it, Deidara would probably never understand about the friendship between Itachi and Sasori.

「How do you feel?」 Itachi said. He walked over to Sasori and leaned on one of the sinks. He studied Sasori carefully.

Sasori pursed his lips. 「I’ve felt better… and I’ve felt worse,」 he said. He replaced his bottles and pots of product and zipped up his toiletry bag.

Itachi said nothing, continuing to study Sasori’s face and body language. Sasori looked into Itachi’s mahogany eyes, trying to tell him with a look that he was going to be alright.

After a moment, Itachi blinked and rubbed his eyes again. 「As long as you’re okay… I’ve said it enough times, but you two really do seem to be good for each other…」He stood up straight and made his way to the door. 「I need sleep. See you in a few hours.」

「Later.」

Alone now, Sasori took one last look at himself in the mirror. It was always the eyes that hooked him first. For so many years they had been dead and dull—he had _hated_ his eyes, hated that boring, ugly brown, the too-long eyelashes, the thin eyebrows that always seemed to be questioning the world…

But that wasn’t what he saw anymore. The pale, amber-like brown of his eyes had a way of catching the light that he found fascinating. Now, in this moment, they were wide and wondering. His long lashes framed these eyes in perfect proportions, so thick that he seemed to be wearing mascara. It pleased him that his brow was smooth and unwrinkled, that no creases were forming at the corners of his eyes: his skin was smooth and well-moisturised, unblemished…

His hair was getting longer, brushing past the lobes of his ears—unlike his eyes, his red hair he had always loved. Red like his father’s. He had worn it styled this way for nearly his entire life. He ran a hand through it, fluffing it up then patting it down. He inspected his fingers and determined he did not need to trim his nails just yet.

Finally, he drew a deep breath, and exited the bathroom.

*

A waft of warm, baked oatmeal-and-chocolate-flavoured air curled around Deidara as he stepped into the communal kitchen. Sasori and Kisame were both seated at the table with mugs of coffee—the campground kitchen contained a mismatched collection of tableware for public use. Sasori was nose-deep in his book while Kisame was flipping through a climbing route guide.

“It smells so good, mn,” Deidara sighed as he approached Sasori’s chair.

Sasori looked up at him and smiled. “Good morning.”

Returning the smile, Deidara walked over to stand behind Sasori, leaning into the back of the chair and draping his arms over Sasori’s torso. Sasori set down his book and kissed Deidara’s hands. When he tipped his head back to look up at Deidara, Deidara bent down and kissed him on the lips. He had meant it as a light peck, but Sasori opened his mouth and welcomed a delicious, lingering kiss.

Somehow Deidara found himself on Sasori’s lap, the two of them grinning like idiots at each other. Kisame was not bothered by any of this.

“Deidara,” Kisame said after a moment, “Sasori and I were talking about maybe taking the newbies climbing in Queenswalk, not the crag near the quarry.” Kisame pushed the guidebook over and pointed. “You don’t mind us just dropping you and Sasuke off? We’ll be half an hour away if anything happens.”

After scanning the guidebook, Deidara nodded. “We’ll be fine. I’ll make sure my phone’s charged.” He tossed his hair over his shoulder, flicking Sasori in the face, but he used that as an excuse to kiss Sasori’s hair-whipped cheek.

“Sorry,” he apologized sweetly before turning to Kisame. “I sincerely hope nothing goes wrong, but really you never know… mn.”

Sasori aimed a slap at Deidara’s forearm but the strike landed on his thigh. “Don’t say that! Are you sure you don’t want me to stay and help? I couldn’t care less about climbing—”

“No, you have to go or they’ll be short a belay partner, mn.”

Kisame chuckled. “We’ll see how it goes today. We’ll pair you with Suigetsu or Karin… Juugo will send anyone but me flying if he falls.”

“And who knows if they’ll even take to it,” Deidara added. “Isn’t Queenswalk close to a little village? If they get bored you can always take them into town… mn.”

“Oh!” Sasori said, suddenly remembering. “There’s a shop in the village I’ve been meaning to check out, a local woodworker…”

“See? You don’t want to spend all day with me and Snazzy. You have art to chase,” Deidara responded, stroking Sasori’s head as if he were a cat. “So, when’s breakfast? Mn.”

“Get your fat ass off my lap and we can get started,” Sasori retorted. “Was there any sign of movement in the other tents?”

“I will gladly go bang a pot for you, mn,” Deidara grinned.

“That’s unnecessary. For now.” Sasori shoved Deidara off his lap and made his way over to the kitchen counter. Deidara followed him, hunting coffee.

Sasori turned. “But I will let you know.”

*

No one had enjoyed being woken by Deidara’s pot-banging, least of all Karin, who rained abuse on him for a solid half-hour as they ate. She seemed to be feeling the full effects of all the wine she had drank the night before. Even Suigetsu was lacking some of his usual glitter as he nursed his head. But once everyone’s bellies were full of breakfast, a friendly, almost team-like banter began to develop between “Team Snake” and the Dawn Climbers. They had packed up and departed for the quarry in what could have almost been described as ‘an efficient manner,’ dropping Deidara and Sasuke off around noon.

The weak white light of a cloud-covered midday sun found Deidara and Sasuke standing at the edge of the quarry with Deidara’s supplies scattered around them.

"It's just you and me now, Sauce-kin, mn." Deidara propped his hands on his hips and surveyed the pile of dynamite fireworks barrages, fuse line, detonation equipment and power tools.

Sasuke grimaced at the nickname but kept silent.

"You wanted to learn how to rig an explosion? Here we are. Now I'm betting the last thing you want is to die in an accident here, so I expect you to pay attention and do as I say, mn."

"Whatever," Sasuke grumbled. "As long as I get to go climbing at some point this week…"

"Well, aren't you demanding! First you want my explosives, now you want to act like a normal child and go climbing. I'm not falling for it, mn."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and jammed his hands in the pockets of his purple, white and black wind-breaker.

"So what are we doing with all this shit, anyway?" he asked.

"See that piece of shit car over there? By midnight on Bonfire Night that thing will be no more. We're gonna blow it to hell, mn."

"How?"

Deidara's eye glittered like a wicked diamond and his mouth curled into a grin that would have frightened small children, had they been present.

"Patience and steady hands, mn."

*

"Where does this one go?" Sasuke asked, raising a wire with a flag of red electrical tape on it into the air so that Deidara, from his position on the roof of the car, could see.

Deidara had just begun to remove the car roof with a battery-operated jigsaw he had borrowed from Sasori. Sasori, who usually used the jigsaw for dividing large wood blocks into smaller, more workable pieces, had been very reluctant to let Deidara use it on a rusty old car, but Deidara had been very insistent. The jigsaw blade extended vertically downward from the handle and cut through the metal easily enough, but it was awkward to stand on the roof and push the saw around. Deidara was sweating.

"Uh… " Deidara craned his neck, then slid along the roof on his belly so he could get a better look. He wiped at the sweat dripping into his eye.

Sasuke was crouched near the front wheel, a bundle of wires with different coloured tape-flags in one fist and the red flagged one in the other.

"Uh, that should be the first volley. The box labeled ‘Jubilee 218-shot.’ But you’re not hooking any of them up right now, you’re supposed to be digging. The dynamite needs to go _under_ the car in the right spots, and right now there’s too much debris. Go put those wires back over by the rock where we left our lunch… Speaking of, maybe we could take a break, mn.”

"What time is…" Sasuke took his phone out of his pocket. "What the hell, it's after five o'clock! Don't you get hungry?"

"Is it? I didn’t notice…"

"Let's eat."

Their lunch spot was in the shelter of a huge boulder, a relic of the mining operations that had gone on here once upon a time. Deidara thought it would make a good viewing spot for his display, as it was wide enough to fit all eight of them on top, the beat-up car was a safe distance away, and the ground between the boulder and the car was clear enough to run his wiring across.

He was planning to use a simple electrical ignition system to light the fuses from the safety of the viewing platform, one he had used often. Each fuse attached to an ignition clip connected to its own wire, the ones Sasuke had held. These connected to a single modem cable which plugged into a battery powered control board. All Deidara would need to do to set off the fireworks was press the green “arm” button and whichever red “katsu” button (as he called them) connected to the volley he wanted to ignite.

Sasuke plonked himself down with a tired sigh and started unpacking the cooler Sasori had left them. Sandwiches, a thermos of coffee ( _no alcohol, sigh_ … Dei thought), a large pack of crisps and a few of the trail mix flapjack bars that Sasori had baked while he waited for everyone to drag themselves out of bed that morning.

“Your… Sasori is really good with food," Sasuke remarked as he inspected his colorful sandwich. Sasori always found a way to include vegetables.

“My _boyfriend_ , you mean? Is it that hard to say? What's wrong with you? You work in a gay bar and hang out with Suigetsu. Mn."

Sasuke looked uncomfortable. "My family is really conservative. They stick to some stupid old beliefs… Mostly it’s just my grandfather. I know that he's wrong… but it's just how I was raised, you know?"

Deidara thought for a moment. "Did Itachi get in trouble for it, growing up?"

Sasuke’s expression darkened at Itachi’s name, but he still replied: "He never really fit in… He spent a lot of his time with our cousin Shisui… Another black sheep… Grandfather didn't like it when Shisui joined the police instead of working for the family business. I think Shisui might have been queer too, but I was just a kid back then, so… "

“What happened to him? Kabuto told me he died…? I don't really remember the details…mn." Deidara picked at his sandwich. He wasn’t very hungry.

“You don’t remember?!” Sasuke exclaimed as he snatched the bag of crisps and cracked it open. “He told you the whole thing, start to finish. I was sitting right next to you! God, you got so wasted that night…"

Looking thoroughly unimpressed that Sasuke had chosen to highlight this fact, Deidara continued: "So did Kabuto tell it right? He was shot, yeah? Murdered in relation to some drugs case he was pursuing? Mn."

“That’s what the police report said, but my family says it had nothing to do with his police work. They say it was an ex-lover. Or possibly even suicide. Nobody really knows.”

Deidara stared at Sasuke over his thermos lid cup of coffee. “Suicide? Why?” _The plot gets thicker and thicker with these Uchiha._ Deidara’s head was spinning trying to keep all the different versions of the stories straight. _Suicide doesn’t make any sense… Kabuto said he was shot in the chest!_ He wondered what the connection was between Shisui’s death and the deaths of Itachi and Sasuke’s parents—or if there even was one. _Seems like just one great big circle of lies… mn._

“Why does anyone commit suicide? External pressure, mental illness…” Sasuke said, tossing the words out so casually it was as if he didn’t really understand them. He picked up one of the flapjack slices and passed the box to Deidara. They were stuffed with oatmeal, chocolate chips, sultanas and coconut flakes, baked in a tray and cut into thick bars. Deidara chewed on one as he processed this new information.

To Deidara, it seemed that Sasuke was just repeating what he had been told growing up. He must have had endless questions as a child, but his family—especially the grandfather, it seemed—must have always had an explanation. _Why, though? What does this family have to hide?_

“Right,” Deidara said as he stood. “Let’s get back to work before we lose the daylight. We’re making good progress, mn.”

*

Although Sasuke appeared to follow Deidara’s every order, Deidara still caught him trying to sneak things away, like a coil of wire (“What’s that for, strangling him in his sleep? Mn.”), the hammer they had used for smashing in the car’s windows (“Really??”) and a stick of dynamite (“You dumbass, you think I haven’t counted every one of these a dozen times? What were you planning to do, light it and toss it into his tent at night? You don’t have any means of remote ignition, mn!”)

By the end of the day, Deidara trusted Sasuke even less, although he was starting to warm to the dark-haired boy’s dry sense of humour.

“So let me get this straight: Suigetsu collects swords? Like real ones? Mn.”

They were packing up the equipment that couldn’t be left out overnight. Kisame had phoned about twenty minutes ago to say they were on their way to pick them up.

“Yeah, real ones. He buys them online. He’s got a katana, a scimitar… I think he even has this huge ass glaive… Wait, if I’ve got a data signal, I’ll show you his YouTube channel.”

Deidara, who had been standing behind Sasuke, peered around his shoulder and was treated to the sight of Suigetsu in a sleeveless spandex top performing an intricately choreographed routine where he sliced through watermelons and a variety of other fruit with a viciously sharp katana.

“Wow… mn.”

“Behold Suigetsu, the original ‘fruit’ ninja,” Sasuke drawled.

“Ha! That’s hilarious! I didn’t think anyone still called gay men ‘fruit’ anymore…” Deidara laughed. Then he squeezed Sasuke’s shoulders rather forcefully. “Coming from _you_ though, it’s maybe a _touch_ homophobic, mn.”

“Get off my back!—no, literally, get off, Deidara—”

Deidara straightened up and released his grip on Sasuke, who continued:

“I can’t take credit for calling him ‘fruit ninja’—he said it himself.”

The crunch of gravel announced the arrival of the van. Once it pulled to a stop, Deidara and Sasuke opened the back to load up the tools.

The back of the van was piled high with hefty blocks of wood, none smaller than a shoebox, while at least one piece was nearly a meter tall.

“What’s all this wood for?” Deidara called. “Big blocks like this aren’t going to burn very well in tomorrow’s bonfire… mn.”

Sasori poked his head over the top of the chair. “It’s a local wood, has this really lovely soft color to it when carved. The woodworker was getting rid of it… And I need more for my next series.”

Deidara stared. “I kinda hoped you’d be taking a break after finishing the last set… I only just got all the wood shavings picked out of all my clothes… mn.”

“That’s because you’re always rolling all over my table!”

“You need a separate workspace, Danna,” Deidara said as he passed Sasuke the empty cooler. “Then you won’t have to vacuum the bed every night you work at home, mn!”

“Vacuuming every night keeps the apartment clean!” Sasori exclaimed, taking the cooler from Sasuke and tucking it between two of the wood blocks. “I’d do it whether I carved that day or not.”

Sasuke looked from Sasori to Deidara. “You two bicker like old ladies. That’s the last of the stuff. Let’s go.”

Deidara stared after Sasuke as he walked around the van to the door Suigetsu had pulled open for him.

“I hate that kid! Mn!” Deidara exclaimed to Sasori before slamming shut the back hatch.

He climbed into the van and pushed past Karin and Sasuke in the front row, Juugo in the second row and Suigetsu in one of the single seats to join Sasori in the back row.

Once Deidara had settled in, Sasori asked, “How was he today?”

Deidara slumped sideways until his head landed in Sasori’s lap. Sasori combed his fingers through Deidara’s rumpled locks. The cornrows were starting to get a little fuzzy, but the braids were holding together well. Deidara picked at the dirt beneath his nails.

“Exhausting… he kept trying to pocket things… like a kid at the cookie jar.”

“What about the set up? You left all the explosives on site?” Sasori was mindlessly stroking Deidara’s head now. It was very relaxing.

“Yeah, safer than carting them around in the van. That’s what the tarps were for—I made Sasuke dig this really deep hole under the car, then we wrapped everything up and threw dirt over the top. No one would ever guess 10kg of dynamite was hidden under there, mn.”

“Is there a lot to be done tomorrow?”

Deidara sat up and shook out his hair. “Not a lot… that reminds me, mn.”

He slammed his hands on the back of the seat and shouted “Oy, assholes!”

This had the desired effect of getting everyone in the van to look at him.

“Tomorrow I want Itachi to help me, mn.”

“What? But—”

“Shut the fuck up, Sasuke, you said you wanted to go climbing, mn.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Shut up or I’ll start calling you ‘Buttskay.’ Everything should be ready well before sundown, though, so the rest of you can come early to set up the bonfire and barbecue shit, mn.”

Kisame called from the driver’s seat: “We might as well climb at the cliff near the quarry then.”

“Fine, but nobody’s allowed to wander around, just in case something goes wrong. Ten kilograms of dynamite are under that car, and trust me when I say you don’t want to be anywhere near it when it goes off, mn.”

“Part of me still does not believe that you’re for real,” Karin said, squinting her eyes at Deidara. She turned to Sasuke. “Does he really have 10kg of dynamite?”

Sasuke nodded. “And far too many boxes of fireworks…” He turned to Deidara. “How long did you say this display should last if you get the timings right?”

Grinning, Deidara replied, “Twenty-eight minutes. But if it all goes off at once… maybe three minutes? Four? Mn.”

“Will we need earplugs?” Juugo’s deep voice was startling because he so rarely spoke.

“Couldn’t hurt, mn,” Deidara shrugged.

Sasori stroked his arm. “I actually brought a whole box for everyone…”

“How considerate,” Deidara replied with a sickly-sweet grin. “You’re turning into the club dad, you know? Mn.”

“Enough!” Sasori cried as laughter flooded the van.


	4. Fires Will Burn in a Chain of Brightness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Dawn Climbers, "Team Snake" Bonfire Night Expedition, Day 3**  
>  The explosions you've all been waiting for! After the show, Sasuke approaches Sasori with a question.

A roaring bonfire crackled merrily in the shelter of the boulder Deidara had chosen for their viewing platform. Flames licked the heavens, nearly as tall as the rock itself, dancing higher than the tips of Juugo’s flame-orange hair. Their motley crew was scattered around the area: Suigetsu gnawed on a chicken wing beside Juugo, who took a long draught of his beer. Sasori was tidying up the used skewers while Kisame poked at the potatoes still roasting in the coals.

Itachi had just given Karin a leg up onto the boulder, where she was laying out blankets and some pillows to use as cushions.

“Pass me another blanket, Itachi,” she ordered loudly. And then lying on her stomach, she leaned over the side of the boulder and whispered in a soft voice she thought no one but Itachi could hear, “Then get your ass up here and sit with me; it’s cold.”

Deidara, who was painstakingly checking wiring on his return from the installment, caught her whisper just as he arrived at the boulder and exchanged a look with Itachi, who was midway through passing Karin the blanket. Itachi flushed bright red, visible even in the flickering firelight.

“I guess I’ll leave it a minute before I check the switches up there, mn,” Deidara murmured into Itachi’s ear as he passed. He grinned. “Have fun, Itachi-san, mn.”

Itachi’s blush grew darker.

Deidara sidled up to the fire and took a potato from Kisame, who was passing them around. He had not eaten very much that evening, so he wolfed it down and wiped his mouth on his sleeve before stepping into everyone’s line of vision.

“Everything’s ready, mn,” he announced to those around the fire. “Just need to check the switches and we’ll be—Hey, where’s Sasuke?”

“I’m right here,” came Sasuke’s drawl. “Do you want to hold my hand while I piss too, Deidara- _senpai_?”

Sasuke stepped into the light of the fire, deep shadows pulling at the hollows of his eyes in the flickering glow. He looked every bit the cold-hearted avenger he was claiming to be.

“If you touched _anything_ —” Deidara started.

Sasori jumped in: “You will be restrained—”

“We have no qualms about tying you up, mn.”

“And force-feeding you peanuts,” Sasori finished.

“You two are so weird,” Sasuke retorted, stalking over to sit next to Suigetsu and Juugo.

“Alright!” Deidara clapped his hands. “It’s about time!” He turned to the boulder. “Oy! Lovebirds! I’m coming up there now, put your clothes back on, mn!”

“Wh-what are you talking about!” came Karin’s stuttering shriek.

“Don’t be crude, Deidara,” Sasori smirked.

Deidara sprang up the boulder, hands and feet finding easy purchase on its jagged surface, then spun to face his audience around the fire.

“LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED, BITCHES!” he shouted. “Mn!”

He flung himself down beside Itachi and Karin—who looked like she’d only just barely had time to crawl off Itachi’s lap—and quickly inspected his switch board. It wasn’t anything fancy—just a little bit of circuitry that would send an electrical signal to each ignition point. The battery had charge: when he hit the “arm” button, all his little “katsu” buttons lit up charmingly. Everything seemed to be in order.

One by one, the others joined them on top of the boulder and took the earplugs Sasori passed out.

“Who has the time?” Deidara asked, swinging his head around. “Let’s start at midnight, mn!”

“Three minutes to go, my love,” Sasori replied, scooching close and showing Deidara the screen of his phone.

“Did anyone think to grab drinks?” Deidara asked.

When no one replied, he turned to Sasuke. “Sauce-dog, go fetch, mn.”

Suigetsu suppressed a giggle as Sasuke jumped off the boulder, sighing heavily.

“I’m going to have to remember some of these nicknames, Deidara,” Suigetsu said. “Your imagination knows no bounds.”

“I am an artist, after all, mn,” Deidara retorted.

“If only your creativity with nicknames extended to your essay writing,” lamented Sasori. He pushed Deidara lightly. “Your assignments wouldn’t be so terrible to read.”

“Hey, you’re not supposed to know which ones are my essays! That’s biased grading, mn.”

“Then stop leaving inside jokes for me to find in them!” Sasori shot back, pinching Deidara on the waist. “You’re incorrigible.”

Sasuke returned with an armful of beers, passing them up one by one to Juugo.

“One minute,” Sasori prompted. “Are you ready?”

Deidara cracked his beer open and raised it high.

“To Guy Fawkes! The poor bastard who never got to complete what could have been one of the world’s greatest works of art. Tonight, we make him proud, mn!”

Deidara turned his gaze to ink-dark quarry, where just under a hundred meters away sat the car, filled with nearly a dozen sets of fireworks barrages ranging in size from 218-shot to 412-shot—with special additions and tweaks by Deidara—and 10 kg of dynamite.

“Ten. Nine. Eight,” Sasori began to count. Deidara pressed “arm” and hovered a black-nail-polished finger over the first ignition button.

The others picked up the countdown: “Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two!—”

“ONE! KATSU!” Deidara roared. He imagined energy leaping from his finger to the button, through the wire to his fireworks.

Popping like an enormous pot of popcorn, the first volley of fireworks exploded into the air.

Brilliant flashes of red, green, purple and gold burst far above them, one after the other, raining sparks. The car was illuminated beneath the display: if Deidara had not cut a hole in the roof, it wouldn’t have looked quite so impressive, the fireworks rising from inside it like this.

A cloud of smoke began to build around the car. Deidara stole a glance at his audience and was pleased to see their rapt expressions. Even Sasuke’s eyes were glued to the display, a smug little grin on his face. Karin and Suigetsu had their phones out, filming or taking photos, but on closer inspection Deidara saw that Suigetsu was taking selfies. He glanced back down at the time on Sasori’s phone. It was almost time for the next round. He watched the seconds, listened carefully to the sound of the barrage slowing down… then as he pressed the next switch, whispered to himself: “Katsu.”

This set was bigger and better than the first, with the little curlicue fireworks Deidara had always found amusing, as well as bursts that changed color in a secondary explosion. These he had added to the original pre-packaged barrage, splicing their fuses in at the appropriate junctions.

“How much money did you spend on all this?” Karin asked, pushing her glasses up her nose. She shouted the question since they were all wearing earplugs. At some point, she and Itachi had moved closer together, Itachi now subtly supporting her weight. “It’s better than some professional displays I’ve seen!”

“Wow, Karin, was that a compliment?” Deidara sneered. Sasori squeezed his hand, a warning.

“I mean, thank you,” Deidara continued, responding to Karin. “But I _am_ a professional, mn.”

Karin rolled her eyes and slumped back against Itachi. “Is he always this exhausting?” she muttered up at him. Although of course it was far louder than a mutter with her earplugs and everyone heard her.

Itachi nodded for Karin’s sake, but grinned at Deidara apologetically.

_Dumbass_ , Deidara thought as he returned the grin. It was time for the next volley.

But this time when he pressed the button, nothing happened.

“Shit,” he said aloud. Everyone looked at him. “The third one didn’t go… could be any number of reasons—”

“Just shut up and hit the next one!” grumbled Kisame. “I’m waiting for the dynamite.”

“Hm. As you wish, mn. Katsu!”

The cloud of smoke was growing, but still the fireworks lit up the sky. Sasori snuggled closer to Deidara, supporting his back like Itachi was supporting Karin. Deidara felt him there, but couldn’t relax: he needed to get the timings right… _and_ he was incredibly nervous that the dynamite wouldn’t go off, or worse, that the car would get too hot and it would detonate early. His entire body was vibrating.

Finally, it was time for the last round of fireworks. This was one Vinny had promised would knock people’s socks off, and when Vinny promises something like that, you know it’s going to be good.

When the barrage went off, the quarry glowed with the brightness of day.

“Holy shit!” Suigetsu cried.

“Woah-ho!” Deidara exclaimed. “Yes, Vinny, mn!”

“Stunning, my love,” Sasori whispered in his ear, tugging the earplug out to do so. “Even I’ll admit it.”

“Wait for the finale, mn,” Deidara replied, not bothering to whisper back.

“Finally!” Kisame cried, slapping his thighs and baring his strange teeth. “That car better _fly_ , blondie!”

_It sure as hell better…_ Deidara sweated. “Mn.”

He drew a deep breath. The final volley of fireworks had died down. It was now or never.

“KATSU!” he cried, every muscle in his body tense. _Please, please, please work!_

BOOM.

It worked.

Everyone on the boulder started backwards, uttering cries of amazement and appreciation as the car was engulfed in a ball of flame, flew into the air and flipped onto its roof. The box of undetonated fireworks exploded all at once, but since they could no longer escape out of the roof of the car, they shot in all directions through the windows.

“Fuuuck yeah!” Deidara screamed into the night, leaping to his feet and pumping his fist into the air as a shower of dirt and rocks sprayed over the viewers on the boulder.

“Haha, excellent!” Kisame roared, his beady eyes glowing with orange light.

Deidara drew a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of gunpowder and smoke—he’d never felt more alive. What a beautiful moment.

Sasori got to his feet and stood shoulder to shoulder with Deidara. He threaded his fingers into Deidara’s, radiating affirmation and pride. He kissed Deidara’s cheek and said, “I have to admit it: I believe you might actually have a career in this, my love. People would pay for front row seats to something like that.”

“You should see if you can do a display for Pride next year,” Suigetsu added. “Orochimaru-sama’s usually on the organizational committee—I’ll put in a good word for you.”

Deidara exchanged a look with Sasori, who shrugged.

“I’ll never go commercial,” Deidara said with a toss of his head, “but a commission for Pride…? I could consider it, mn.”

Sasori nudged him with his shoulder. “You should do it! It’s a step towards _legitimate_ recognition… and hopefully a step away from potential incarceration…”

“Now wait a minute…” Deidara’s cogs were turning. “Wait, if it’s a commission they’ll probably have all these safety regulations I have to abide by. That’ll crush my inspiration, mn!”

“No,” Sasori admonished patiently, “remember what adding restrictions does to creation: by limiting yourself in one way you free yourself to explore other avenues of expression.”

“Ugh!” Deidara exclaimed. “If I wanted to know what the textbooks say, I’d have spent my Reading Week _read_ _ing_! I need another beer, mn.”

He pushed past Sasori and leapt down from the boulder.

Kisame was already at the bonfire, stoking the coals and adding more wood.

“Got any more beer, mn?” Deidara asked.

Kisame jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the cooler. “Although if you want something stronger I think your shitty whisky is over there somewhere, too.”

“Mn.”

Deidara snatched the bottle and necked it, grimacing at the horrible taste. He looked up to see Sasori approaching from the boulder.

When they met at the edge of the firelight, he said, “We shouldn’t have left the saké behind… mn.”

“We didn’t leave the saké behind!” Sasori said, looking surprised. He reached a hand into his jacket pocket. “It’s here.”

“Oh, thank fuck! Let’s save this shit for hazing Sasuke later, mn.”

They wandered over to a flat stone near the fire, wide enough for the two of them to sit side-by-side. Deidara set the whisky bottle on the ground. Sasori passed the saké to Deidara, who took a sip and passed it back.

“Do you think he seems more relaxed tonight? Sasuke, I mean,” Sasori asked.

“It’s hard to say…” Deidara replied, pulling his hair off his neck. It was chillier away from the fire, but he was still warm with excitement. “I still think he’s going to try and push Itachi into the bonfire at least once tonight, mn.”

“But he’s taken absolutely no actions like that this entire time. So far, at least.”

Sasori lifted a hand to help Deidara brush his hair away from his face, pausing to rub a smudge of ash from his cheek with his sleeve.

“I don’t trust him. Look. Look at him right now, mn.” Deidara indicated with his chin.

On the other side of the fire, Sasuke was staring up at the top of the boulder where Itachi and Karin still sat, obscured by shadow.

Deidara continued, “I know he’s not jealous about Itachi getting with Karin. I asked him about it yesterday and he said he couldn’t stand her. Respected her as a colleague and all that, but definitely complained about her always hanging all over him. Get this: he says she’s too old for him, mn.”

“So you think he’s still going to try something?”

“We can’t let our guard down. Maybe if we keep him around, take him on a few more Dawn trips he’ll eventually see Itachi’s not the monster he thinks he is… mn.”

“I just wish we knew what exactly happened all those years ago…” Sasori frowned.

“The only thing Itachi ever said to me about it was that the truth belongs to his brother before he’ll tell anyone else. Which makes me think that there’s a fourth version of the story beyond Kabuto’s, the Uchiha’s and the official report, mn.”

Sasori wrapped an arm around Deidara’s shoulders and drew him close. “Sometimes you can be rather smart, my love.”

Deidara pushed Sasori away and playfully slapped his leg. “What do you mean ‘sometimes’??”

“Sorry, I mean ‘So rarely’—Ah!” he cried as Deidara tackled him. Deidara protected the back of Sasori’s head as he fell backwards on their rocky seat. They smiled at each other, Sasori below, Deidara on top, cradling Sasori in his arms.

But just as Deidara was about to shower Sasori with kisses, gravel crunched nearby and someone cleared their throat.

“Sorry, I’ll leave if this is a bad time…”

It was Sasuke.

Deidara and Sasori sat up in a scramble, Deidara shooting to his feet and unnecessarily dusting himself off.

“What can we do you for, young—”

“Just don’t, Deidara, I’m sick of the nicknames,” Sasuke said tiredly. He paced in front of the stone seat. “Can I speak to you two?”

“Sure,” replied Sasori, his face full of concern. “About what?” he added slowly, gesturing that Deidara sit back down. He crossed one leg over the other and held his knee with both hands.

Sasuke sank to his haunches in front of them and glanced off sideways, checking who might be within earshot.

“What do you know about Orochimaru’s side business?” he said in a low voice.

Deidara’s mouth dropped open in surprise, but Sasori’s face betrayed nothing.

“If you’re coming to talk to us—well, me—” Sasori replied, “—you must already know that the answer to that question is ‘quite a lot,’” His eyes were full of a soft concern as he regarded the young Uchiha. Deidara was indifferent.

“Yeah, you want Sasori for this one,” he supplied. “Cuz I don’t know jack shit about it, mn.” He leaned back on his hands and snagged the bottle of saké from Sasori’s palm. Just before he brought the bottle to his own lips, he extended the bottle to Sasuke, who shook his head. With a shrug, Deidara knocked back hearty swallow. Sasori took it back but didn’t drink.

“So you know what goes on ‘upstairs,’” Sasuke confirmed before going on. “He asked me if I wanted to… participate, but I said no. I’m not interested in that kind of thing.”

Deidara almost interjected that no, the only thing Sasuke was interested in was killing Itachi, but Sasori lifted a hand, warning him not to speak.

“And if you know about this illegal business,” Sasuke continued, watching the two of them carefully, “then you know the reason he’s able to keep it running is because he’s yakuza. Well, he’s trying to get me to join up…”

“I highly suggest you don’t,” Sasori said, voice full of reservation. “I never did.” He shot a glance at Deidara, knowing full well how Deidara had reacted last time the yakuza had been brought up. “I know it might seem like a kind of… security, being part of such an organization, but you’re tied to it for life, Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke’s dark eyes shifted from Sasori’s face to Deidara’s as he calculated what to say next.

“It’s just… I’m not sure I want to help run the family business after I graduate, either,” he said.

Here was common ground Deidara could join him on: “Then don’t! Do your own thing, mn!”

“What is it that your family does, anyway?” Sasori asked, with a look that Deidara recognized: his mind was working a mile a minute, sifting through information and connecting dots.

“We have several chemical manufacturing factories,” Sasuke replied instantly. “Pesticides, fertilizers, that sort of thing… Sounds boring, I know… but we supply on an international level. It’s good money.”

“Sounds boring as _fuck_ ,” Deidara groaned, reaching for the saké again. “GTF outta there before you turn into some balding loser with a potbelly, mn.”

“Are you sure that chemical manufacturing is your family’s _only_ business?” Sasori pushed, trying to ignore Deidara as he lay his head and torso onto Sasori’s lap, curling into him like an overlarge blond housecat.

Sasuke’s expression became uneasy. “As far as I know…”

“But you suspect more?” Sasori was relentless.

“Why would there be any more?” Sasuke was getting defensive now: he stood and crossed his arms.

“Why indeed…” Sasori said softly.

“Come on, Sasuke, you honestly think Kabuto was lying?” Deidara drawled, not moving from his position on Sasori’s lap. “If those Snaky bastards are yakuza, I’d trust them to know all about the shady shit that goes on around here, mn.”

“And Orochimaru got his start in your city, Sasuke, you should know that,” Sasori added. “He left before your parents died, but he knew your grandfather.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Sasuke replied, “Of course I knew. I knew he was yakuza before I applied to work at the Den. My family warned me to stay away from him. We’ve always had an uneasy relationship with the yakuza—it’s because of them we have to face so much anti-Japanese discrimination in our city. The police are always accusing Uchiha of being involved in local crime.”

“Maybe that’s because the Uchiha _aren’t_ innocent,” Deidara goaded. “Your family _must_ be up to something dodgy, some dirty business that they don’t want you knowing about just yet, for whatever reason, mn.”

This remark made Sasuke visibly angry. “How _dare_ you accuse my family of doing ‘dirty business’!” he growled. “We’ve suffered enough. My grandfather built our business from nothing when he arrived in this country, in the face of discrimination, in the face of—”

“There’s something I’m still not understanding here,” Sasori interjected. “If your family warned you about the yakuza, what on earth would possess you to want to work for Orochimaru in the first place?”

“Maybe I want protection that my family won’t give me.”

The statement hung in the air a moment.

“Orochimaru won’t help you murder Itachi,” Sasori said quietly, threateningly. “In that, you are very, _very_ mistaken.”

A shadow passed over Sasuke’s face. “What do you mean by that? He’s yakuza. They murder people all the time.”

Deidara’s eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, wondering just how involved Sasori might have been in _that_ area of Orochimaru’s business, but before he could say anything Sasori replied:

“It’s true. It comes with the territory: when you operate in the underworld, you have to be prepared to protect your assets at any cost. Orochimaru has had people killed. He’s taken lives with his own hands. But he has a code. Such services are not even for sale to an outsider like you. Itachi is no enemy or threat to Orochimaru. He has nothing to gain from helping you murder him, even if you join. So stay away from him.”

Unexpectedly, Sasuke’s expression became tranquil.

“Thank you,” he said calmly. “That’s all I needed to know.”

And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving a confused silence in his wake.

Deidara sat up and turned to Sasori, his eye wide with alarm.

“Sasori… Why do I get the feeling we might have just made things worse, mn?”

Sasori’s eyes were narrowed in thought; he tapped his bottom lip.

While Sasori was thinking, Deidara voiced a plan: “I say we dose him with peanuts tonight. I’ll slip one into his beer—”

“Now’s not the time for that, Deidara.” Sasori dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. “Even if he has his EpiPen on him we’ll still have to take him to the hospital. The nearest one is out past Queenswalk, a good forty-minute drive. We’ve all been drinking—it’ll be dangerous enough getting back to the campsite tonight…”

“Why are you always so responsible… mn,” Deidara whined, resuming his position on Sasori’s lap.

“I’m just trying to be practical, my love. We have to be smart about this,” Sasori said, stroking Deidara’s hair.

“Does that mean I’m not allowed to get wasted tonight?” Deidara whimpered, trembling his lower lip for dramatic effect.

Sasori stared down at him—it was a rather intimidating angle. “You mean you expect me to not only keep an eye on Sasuke and Itachi but also be available to hold your hair back while you puke your guts out later?” He sniffed. “And here I thought we were in this together…”

Swinging his legs to the ground, Deidara stood in one swift movement. He snatched up the bottle of whisky and struck a heroic pose.

“Two birds, one stone—I’ll make sure Sasuke gets wasted with me, mn!”

Sasori could only shake his head while hiding a grin.

*

_Beep! Beep!_ The van horn echoed of the quarry walls.

“Get in the van, motherfuckers!” Kisame called. “Or you’re sleeping here tonight!”

“We’rrre no’ done yet! Mn!” Deidara slurred. “Come on, Sauce-kid, it’s your turn!”

They were several rounds deep into a game of “Never Have I Ever,” seated cross-legged near the dying fire, in a semi-circle with Sasori, Itachi, and Karin. Juugo and Suigetsu were just behind Sasuke, Suigetsu leaning on Juugo’s shoulder and snoozing softly.

“What more is there to ask? You only have one finger up,” Sasuke replied, words slurring ever-so-slightly. The point of the game was to declare something you had never done, but if the other players _had_ done it, they would lower a finger until they were out. “Never have I… Wait… no, I already said I’ve never been kissed by a boy—”

“Yeah, and Suigetsu fixed that problem for you right after you said it: did you forget so quickly?” Karin teased.

Sasuke frowned at her. “I will _never_ forget.” He sighed. “Well, let’s just get this over with. I’m tired. This’ll get you out, Deidara: never have I ever taken it up the ass—”

He almost didn’t get the full sentence out as the semi-circle erupted in groans and cries of “Not fair!” and “Playing dirty!” and “That’s too obvious!” and “Oh my god, Karin put her finger down!!”

Kisame lay on the horn one more time. “Last call, losers! Put out that fire and get moving!”

Everyone stood in a flurry of movement. Juugo swept the sleeping Suigetsu into his arms, cradling him like a baby as if he’d done this many times before.

“Juugo, carry me next, mn!” Deidara laughed as he stomped out the glowing embers and spread them out across the stone floor of the quarry.

“You can walk just fine,” Juugo returned. He loaded Suigetsu into the front bench and took a seat in the row behind him.

“Besides, you’d crush him beneath the weight of your ego, my love,” Sasori added. He had the cooler in one hand and a bag full of trash dangling from the other. Deidara kicked a spray of coals at him. A live one landed on the trash bag, but it burned out quickly. Grinning, Deidara began trawling through the pile of ash for more live coals.

“Quit messing around. We’re not waiting for you,” Sasori admonished on his way to the van.

Taking one last view of the night-blackened quarry, scanning his eyes over the remnants of their fire, the stately boulder illuminated in the van’s headlights, Deidara inhaled deeply. _Not a bad night, all things considered. It feels like we’re actually getting somewhere, mn!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey lovelies! i just want to add a note here to say THANK YOU FOR READING and I LOVE YOU. the next chapter is.... well, it's a big one. i plan to post it on Feb 22nd, the same day i submit my module 1 paper for my Master's!!! once THAT is out of the way, hopefully i'll have more time to 1) finish Remember, Remember... ; 2) get cracking on the NEXT story!!!! and 3) plot out the rest of A Lifetime of Moments. plus there are so many great upcoming events to participate in! like SasoDei Week and MultiSasori Month.... 
> 
> please don't be shy: drop a comment or message me on Tumblr! i always love to chat, even if i don't reply right away...😊


	5. ‘Twas His Intent to Blow Up the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Dawn Climbers, "Team Snake" Bonfire Night Expedition, Day 4**  
>  Everyone enjoys another beautiful day at the quarry: climbing, skinny dipping, impromptu Japanese lessons... but as evening draws near, Sasuke makes an irreversible decision.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠Trigger warnings in this chapter (from tags): Accidents, Trauma, Near Death. To elaborate, this chapter contains impact trauma and first aid, including splinting of fractures. There is also mention of sex work (Suigetsu's role at Orochimaru's Snake Den) and illegal drugs.  
> also this chapter contains skinny dipping but that shouldn't be too concerning...?  
> THE LOUDEST OF SHOUT OUTS to @tropicalgothic for collaborating on the medical bits of this chapter.

The day after Bonfire Night, no one rose before noon, including Sasori, who was held captive by Deidara’s morning snuggles. At breakfast—or lunch—everyone was nursing a hangover.

“Can we just stay here today…?” Suigetsu whined, looking like he’d melted into a puddle on the kitchen table. “I’m so-o-o—” he failed to suppress a yawn, “—tired.”

“We’ve got to go back to the quarry to clean up,” Sasori replied as he doled fried eggs out onto everyone’s plates. “Apparently the campgrounds administrator got a call last night asking if she knew anything about the explosions last night… She asked me if I knew anything about it in a way that suggested she had absolutely no suspicion it was us, but it’d probably be best if we cleared up any damning evidence…”

“That’s why Sasori makes such a good partner in crime,” Deidara piped up. He was on his fourth cup of coffee and feeling very chipper. “He thinks of _everything._ ”

“You know,” Karin said as she set down her coffee mug. “I think I could be tempted to skinny dip, as long as we’re going back to the quarry.” She placed a mockingly-motherly hand on Suigetsu’s arm. “That’ll cure you, babe.”

“Yes! I like the way you think, Glasses, mn!” Deidara grinned.

Itachi stretched in his chair. “I still want to go climbing. I missed it yesterday.”

“How about those cliffs by the quarry?” Sasuke asked, his voice wavering a little. He was gripping a tall glass of water with both hands as if it held the secrets to life and beyond and if he let it go, those secrets would be lost to mankind forever. His face was paler than usual: he had spent a large portion of the early morning hours after they returned from the quarry “worshipping the porcelain throne.” Deidara had occupied the stall next to him, but not for quite as long. When Deidara had finished evacuating his stomach of all the alcohol that wasn’t supposed to be there, he had even had the presence of mind to bring Sasuke some tissue and a glass of water, although Sasuke had been less than grateful when Deidara chose to dump the glass of water on his head and then throw the tissues into the air like snowflakes. When confronted about it in the morning, Deidara had said “Hey, take that up with drunk me. Sober me wasn’t there, mn.”

“Actually,” Itachi spoke up. “Maybe we could lead climb some routes along the quarry wall now that Dei’s done with his exhibition. I brought cams and draws. I’ll lead a few, see if I can find bolts at the top for top-roping…”

“At the top?” Karin said, her eyes wide. “You can climb all the way to the top of that? It’s so high!”

“The longest route is 35m,” Kisame supplied, shaking his guidebook at her. “It looks tall but that’s only the equivalent of what, and eight storey building? There are routes in the book, Itachi: you shouldn’t have to look too hard for the bolts.”

Itachi nodded. “It’s settled then—let’s pack up!”

*

The sun came out that afternoon, making skinny-dipping a much more pleasant experience than it could have been. The pool was at the far end of the quarry where the cliff walls were only five or six meters above the water level—perfect for cliff-jumping—and a screen of scraggly trees that had sprouted along the edge of the water secluded the space from the rest of the quarry. The pool was dangerously deep: far below was a flooded, abandoned mine shaft.

Kisame was swimming laps, cutting through the clear, deep water with long, powerful strokes. He, like Deidara and Juugo, had not stripped completely naked: he still wore a pair of his preferred boxers. Deidara tread water, his teeth chattering. He was already regretting the fact that he’d got his hair wet when he jumped in. Sasori and Sasuke sat up on the bank, fully clothed. Sasuke was staring sullenly off into space, while Sasori was holding up his phone.

With a glance over his shoulder, Sasori called out, laughing: 「カメラの準備が出来ましたよ！」( _Kamera no jyunbi ga deki mashita yo!_ )

“Lookout below!” came Suigetsu’s cry from somewhere above the swimmers.

Deidara looked up just as a fully naked Suigetsu sailed through the air, executed a perfect front somersault and slipped into the water smooth as a fish. He stayed below for an inordinate amount of time, so long Deidara almost forgot about him—until suddenly Deidara was being ducked from behind, mouth full of water, ears full of Suigetsu’s cackling.

「撮りましたか、蠍さん？」( _Tori mashita ka, Sasori-san_?) Suigetsu called up to Sasori.

Sasori was shaking with laughter and clutching his phone to his chest. He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. 「はい、はい！」( _Hai, hai!_ )

“Another Japanese bastard, huh?” Deidara growled playfully, chasing after Suigetsu but coming nowhere near catching him. He swam as if water was his natural habitat.

“Hey! Suigetsu!” Deidara called. “Teach me some Japanese, mn.”

Suigetsu slowed and began to swim circles around Deidara.

“Okay,” he grinned. “Repeat after me: 僕 _boku_ —”

“Boku—”

“—の _no_ —”

“—no—”

“—チンチン _chin-chin_ —”

Above them, Sasori choked back laughter.

“—chin-chin—”

“—は _wa_ —”

“—wa—”

“—小さいです _c_ _hiisai desu_ 。”

“—chisai dess.”

Sasori was laughing so hard he fell over. Even Sasuke was grinning.

“What… what did you just make me say, Suigetsu…” Deidara said with trepidation.

“Say it all together first.” Suigetsu was grinning like a shark.

“ _Boku no chin-chin wa… chiisai dess_ ,” Deidara repeated quickly. “Now tell me what it means before I figure out a way to drown your slippery ass, mn.”

But Suigetsu just threw his head back, laughed heartily, and dove beneath the water, quickly evading Deidara’s grasping hands.

“Sasori??” Deidara looked to Sasori for help in vain: the red-head was still incapacitated by his laughter.

Trying to speak through tears of mirth, Sasori finally choked out, “It isn’t true,” but that was all he offered as explanation.

As the laughter died down, it was Sasuke with his smug look and folded arms who answered: “It means ‘my dick is small,’ Deidara.”

“WHAT?! Get back here you little eel! Mn!”

Deidara chased after Suigetsu but soon exhausted himself. He floated on his back as he caught his breath. The sky above was full of fluffy white clouds, drifting in a slow march across a vibrant blue sky. He could almost have been fooled into thinking it was summer, were it not for the bitingly cold water.

"Where's Itachi? And Karin?" Sasuke asked all of a sudden. He swung his head around, looking for them.

"They skipped the dip and went straight to the wall with Itachi's gear," Kisame answered, still swimming slow laps in the crystal clear water.

"Isn't she too tiny to belay someone as tall as him?" Deidara asked, a question informed by a year’s worth of climbing with Dawn. The frigidity of the water was starting to enter his limbs now that he was no longer actively swimming.

"Itachi could probably free climb most of the routes here," Kisame replied. "But she’s stronger than she looks, and a quick study. They're fine."

"Well, if I stay in here any longer my balls are gonna disappear," Deidara announced, swimming for the edge of the pool. "Let's go see what they're up to, mn."

Just as he pulled himself up, one foot on the rock, he felt a tug from behind, and in the next instant his boxers were around his ankles and he was plummeting backwards.

"Suigetsu! " he cried as he hit the water, limbs flailing. When he surfaced again, Kisame, Juugo, and a giggling Suigetsu were already out of the pool and pulling on their clothes.

"Fuck!" Deidara shouted as he searched frantically for his underwear. He thought he spied them drifting nearby—black patterned with orange and red explosions and the word “BOOM!” was hard to miss. He dove, but came up empty handed. They were sinking farther and farther out of sight into the deep darkness of the pool. "Fuck, I lost my… Suigetsu, you fucker!" He slapped the surface of the water angrily, then looked up at Sasori on the cliff with pleading eyes.

“I don’t have any spare pants for you, my love,” Sasori called down. “You’ll have to go commando…”

“Fuck this…” Deidara grumbled, dragging himself onto the rock and shaking his body like a dog. His entire body prickled with goosebumps in the icy cold air. Fully naked, he stood there and wrung out his hair, trying to get as much moisture out of it as he could. The stone beneath his feet was gritty and cold. Drops splattered thickly around his ankles. The sun did very little to warm him.

Sasori passed Deidara his sweatpants, t-shirt and hoodie in a neatly folded pile, which Deidara tore into, pulling everything on as quickly as he could manage with shivering hands and numb fingers. Sasori took his hands and rubbed them, passing warmth through friction. He rubbed Deidara’s arms and shoulders as well.

“I almost d-d-don’t dare strap into a harness now,” Deidara stuttered through chattering teeth. “I’ll pinch something important for sure… mn.”

“Yeah, like your _chin-chin_ ,” Sasori joked as Deidara pulled on his socks and boots.

“Great, now that’ll be the _one_ Japanese word I remember…” Deidara rolled his eyes. “Hi, Grandma Sasori, how are you? Yeah, I can speak some Japanese. Oh, you wanna hear? _Chin-chin_ , mn.”

Sasori spluttered incoherent syllables. “You wouldn’t _dare_!”

“What, would she faint?”

“No, she’d probably die laughing. She’s got a weird sense of humour… But don’t call her Grandma Sasori—she’s Chiyo.”

“Mn.”

Deidara reached for Sasori’s hand, and their fingers laced together as they walked over to the base of the wall where everyone had gathered.

Karin was belaying Itachi as he lead-climbed a route on a lower section of the cliff. There were ample foot- and handholds on this route. Kisame was right: Itachi could easily have climbed it without a rope or belayer to catch him. With a strong grip like Itachi’s, he wouldn’t tire, slip or fall. But it was better to be safe than sorry, and with Karin belaying him he could take breaks if he wanted to.

He was scouting a path up the wall for the rest of them to follow, aiming for the bolt at the top. With rock-climbing, the top bolt was pivotal to protection: on one end of the rope, the climber—in this case, Itachi—while on the other end, the belayer, whose job it was to provide the climber with enough slack or tension to safely ascend. With top-roping it was simple: as the climber ascends, the belayer pulls the rope through their belay device so that there was always the shortest amount of rope between them and the climber. That way if the climber fell, the belayer would catch them.

Lead-climbing—what Itachi was doing just then—was different in that the climber needed to add their own “top” bolt every few meters they climb. Itachi did this by sticking a device called a cam into a tight crevice, checking it was secure, attaching a quickdraw—two karabiners connected by a sling—then clipping his rope into the dangling karabiner. Lead-climbing was different for the belayer as well: instead of only taking in slack, the belayer must also _give_ slack, so that the climber can pass beyond the bolt. This dance of give-and-take becomes tricky when the climber passed too high beyond their last cam: if they fall, they could drop a whole meter or two before the belayer catches their weight again, and even then there would always be the risk that the cam would fail and pop out of the wall.

“Take in!” Itachi called down to Karin.

“Okay!” she called back—the standard response to let the climber know you heard them.

Eyes locked on Itachi and a look of pure concentration on her face, Karin pulled the rope through the belay device clipped to her harness. Her form was good: she pulled downward on the rope “above” her with one hand and upward on the rope “below” her with the other at the same time, then swiftly locked down the “dead” rope below her by pulling it down to her hip. She even sat back in her harness, using her weight to counter Itachi’s like she had been taught.

Above them, Itachi sat back in his harness and shook out his hands. He turned, and seeing that the others had gathered, called down:

“How was your swim? Find any fish?”

“Yeah, two ugly sharks!” Deidara called up. “One ate my underwear, mn.”

Itachi laughed. “Dei, do you want to clean this route after I finish?”

“Sure but—”

He spun and placed both hands on Sasori’s shoulders. “Listen,” he said in a low, urgent voice, “I need your underwear. I’m not risking—”

“No!” Sasori exclaimed, a disgusted look on his face. “Just… make sure everything’s tucked in the right place. You’ll be fine.”

“Clearly you’ve never had your balls pinched in a harness before,” Deidara said, exasperatedly shaking Sasori’s shoulders. “I’m _serious_! Mn.”

“You’ll be _fine_!” Sasori knocked Deidara’s hands away. “You were wearing boxers anyway. They wouldn’t have held you in place any better than your sweatpants. Go.” He pushed Deidara towards the van to collect his harness, shoes, and helmet.

Deidara spun, and used both hands to make rude gestures at Sasori while walking backwards, “I hate you!” he called.

“Hate you, too, my love,” Sasori called back.

Kisame, Juugo, Suigetsu and Sasuke followed after Deidara to the van, and within fifteen minutes there were three sets of climbers on the cliff: Deidara and Sasuke, Itachi and Karin, Juugo and Kisame. Deidara cleaned the route Itachi had just climbed. That meant unclipping the rope from each karabiner along the way and removing the cams Itachi had stuck into the wall, so that when the next climber ascended it as a top-rope route, there would be no friction: the rope would only be passing through the top bolt. The cams clipped to Deidara’s harness clinked together merrily as he ascended almost too quickly for Sasuke to safely belay.

“Slow down, Deidara!” Sasuke called up to him. “I’ve got way too much slack here!”

Sasori materialized behind Sasuke. 「If you drop him, your life is forfeit to me,」 he murmured dramatically over Sasuke’s shoulder. 「I will not hesitate.」

「To do what, throw peanuts at me?」 Sasuke sneered. He drew the slack rope through his belay device and locked it off as Deidara paused to undo another cam.

Sasori shrugged. 「I would find a way.」

Suigetsu sidled up to them, looking very out of place in his shiny down jacket and leopard print skinny-jeans. He addressed Sasori: 「Hey, do you have any sunscreen?」

「Sure, in the van… It’s in my bag—do you want me to get it for you?」

「No, I can find it myself,」 Suigetsu replied. Sasori noticed then that he held a long stick in one hand.

「Bring it out when you find it, I think we all could use some,」 Sasori called after him, squinting in the bright afternoon sunlight.

Sasori turned to Sasuke. 「What’s he doing with that stick?」

「He probably wants to practice his katana forms,」 Sasuke explained.

Deidara had not had a chance to tell Sasori about Suigetsu’s sword-themed YouTube channel yet, so Sasori merely stared questioningly at Suigetsu’s receding form.

「Well, when Deidara gets down tell him he still needs to sort through the wreckage of that car,」 Sasori said to Sasuke. 「I’ll be over by the fire-pit.」

*

Dusk settled around the quarry, bathing everything in a hazy pink glow. Sasori sat by the fire-pit, surrounded by a series of small figurines he had carved out of charred wood, each with a little toothpick-length katana to mimic his model, Suigetsu. In the distance he could see that the climbers were still at it. He stood and brushed dust and wood shavings off his trousers.

「It’s about time to pack up and make dinner. Let’s go see what they’re up to,」 he called to Suigetsu, who was dozing on top of the boulder.

Suigetsu rolled off the boulder in a single, fluid motion, moving his dancer’s body like liquid. When he joined Sasori on the ground, he linked arms with Sasori like they were old friends.

「Why have I never seen you at Snake Den?」 Suigetsu asked, his expression open and a little curious.

Sasori shot him a look. 「Don’t you know who I am?」

「Why should I know ‘who you are’?」 Suigetsu fired back, brows pinched together. 「I know your name is Sasori, that you’re Japanese, and that you make funny little dolls, but I don’t even know what your job is.」

「Sorry, Sasuke knew about my past with Orochimaru, so I just figured you did too.」

Suigetsu shrugged. 「Orochimaru-sama confides more in Sasuke-kun than he does in me. I'm just an employee…」

「Does he treat you alright?」 Sasori asked, carefully searching Suigetsu’s face.

Suigetsu’s gaze slipped sideways. 「There are worse jobs…」

They were just out of earshot of the climbers at the base of the cliff. Sasori stopped walking.

「Look, I know what it’s like to work for him upstairs, okay?」 Sasori said in a low, urgent voice. 「I didn’t do it often—he did let me focus on my art, on my studies—but sometimes he needed… my type. And I’d say yes, because he paid well. But… I regret it. It’s taken me _years_ to heal from everything Orochimaru put me through.」

Suigetsu still wouldn’t meet Sasori’s eyes. 「I know what I’m getting myself into,」 he murmured. 「It pays the bills, and Orochimaru _does_ treat us well. He keeps us safe…」

「I saw Juugo’s tattoos while you were swimming, but I didn’t see any on you. Are you joining?」

「I’m nearing the end of my probationary period,」 Suigetsu replied, finally meeting Sasori’s eyes. 「I want to join. I had no one when I came to uni. No family, no network, just a brother who doesn’t care one bit whether I live or die.」

Sasori pursed his lips. 「It’s your decision… But I talked Sasuke out of it last night.」

「You what?!」 Suigetsu exclaimed, lavender eyes wide. He stepped close to Sasori so he could speak in a low voice. 「No! We need Sasuke to join. We have to break him away from his family before he does something he regrets!」

「What? What are you talking about?」 Sasori glanced at the wall, where Itachi was halfway up a climb on the tallest cliff face. The climbers had been at it all day but no one had challenged that toughest route yet. If anyone could top it, Itachi could.

「We know what Sasuke’s trying to do,」 Suigetsu explained, gesturing as he spoke. 「He wants revenge for his parents’ deaths. But what you probably don’t know is that the grandfather has been _goading_ Sasuke into murdering his brother to keep family secrets under wraps. Their side business has had them clashing with yakuza in Foldon for decades, but now more than ever they’re trying to stay off law enforcement’s radar. They want to wrap up loose ends.」

「Wait, you _know_ what the side business is?」 Sasori’s brows knit together as he processed this. 「Kabuto’s never mentioned…」

「Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Kabuto’s only passing you enough information to keep you satisfied. Orochimaru-sama doesn’t want you knowing anything about yakuza business.」

「Shit! Are you telling me _Orochimaru_ _knows_ I’ve got Kabuto watching him?」

「Sorry, but it’s true… Kabuto-san is fully loyal to Orochimaru-sama. If it was ever a secret, Kabuto-san probably didn’t keep it from Orochimaru-sama for very long.」

「Shit…」 Sasori sighed. He looked up at the sound of gravel crunching beneath a familiar pair of boots.

“What’s going on?” Deidara said, looking puzzled as he glanced from Sasori to Suigetsu and back again. “Is everything okay? Mn.”

“Suigetsu was just saying that Orochimaru’s yakuza know a lot more about this Uchiha business than we originally thought. Continue,” he prompted Suigetsu. “In English for the lovely but monolingual Deidara, please.”

“Right. Honestly, I know I’m not supposed to tell you guys any of this, but it seems like you both really care about Itachi and preventing Sasuke from murdering him. That’s what we all want, really, so I don’t see why you can’t know the truth. If that means I don't pass probation, then fuck it." Suigetsu planted his hands on his hips and drew a breath.

"Orochimaru-sama wants Sasuke to join the yakuza to break him away from his family for two reasons: one, he genuinely doesn't want any harm to come to Itachi. You know he has his rules about murder. Two, we think they’ve finally recovered from the losses that Itachi incurred all those years ago and are ready to re-enter competition with the Foldon yakuza.”

“The Foldon yakuza are Sarutobi’s people, right?” It wasn’t really a question. Sasori knew that the Foldon yakuza were run by Hiruzen Sarutobi, a grizzly old man whom many said was well past his prime. Back when Sasori had been Orochimaru’s lover, he had tried to stay as far out of yakuza dealings as he could, remain willfully ignorant. It was safer that way. But over the years he had picked up on how Orochimaru had defected from Sarutobi’s Foldon yakuza in his thirties to set up his own operations in the university town of Sonchester. Unlike Orochimaru, whose business was trading illegal sexual services, the Foldon yakuza were involved in the manufacture and sale of drugs. Sasori quickly explained this to Deidara.

“So…” Deidara said slowly, “does that mean that the Uchiha are also in the drug trade?”

Suigetsu shrugged. “Seems pretty obvious, if you ask me. Foldon’s notorious for its drug problem.”

“You said that you think the Uchiha have ‘recovered from the losses Itachi incurred’,” Sasori continued. “What do you mean? Is this related to the incident eleven years ago?”

“It must be!” Deidara interjected. “Kabs said that Shisui was chasing leads in a drug case before he died, mn.”

"That's Orochimaru-sama's theory," Suigetsu shrugged.

"But Sasuke doesn't know anything about the drug business," Sasori continued, tapping his lower lip as he thought. "He only believes what the family have told him about Itachi: that he acted alone to purposefully murder their parents."

"And Itachi basically confirmed that story to Sasuke," Deidara added, elaborating: "Sasuke told me when Itachi got out of juvie he said he killed them to prove he was strong enough to do it, then egged Sasuke on to do the same to him, mn."

Sasori nodded. "So what we're left with is Sasuke, loyal to his family but running out of options to get away with murder, turning to the yakuza—"

"—Hoping Orochimaru would help him take out Itachi…" Deidara continued the train of thought.

“But last night I must have accidentally confirmed something he'd already heard from Orochimaru…” Sasori breathed. “After I said Orochimaru would never help Sasuke get away with murdering Itachi, it was like he’d made up his mind…” The pit of his stomach dropped away.

He looked over to the cliff, where Itachi—a helmetless Itachi—had just reached the top of the climb. _Why isn’t he wearing a helmet?_ Sasori thought. Thirty-five meters—over eight stories—above their heads, he clipped the rope into the top bolt and called down:

“Take in!”

“Okay!” the belayer called back. Sasori’s guts clenched: the voice belonged to Sasuke.

“No…” Sasori breathed.

Deidara and Suigetsu looked at him, then back at Itachi’s small form high above them. Itachi leaned back, let go of the wall and let the rope take all his weight so he could be lowered to the ground.

Time stood still…

…then Itachi’s body plummeted.

Sasori, Deidara and Suigetsu broke into a run.

Itachi tumbled down the upper cliff-face, body scraping along and bouncing off the rough limestone. No one had seen how at the top he had closed his eyes, accepting this fate—nor how once he was free-falling to the bottom, his body automatically shifted so that his feet were below his body, a position he’d conditioned himself into after years of practice falls as a climber.

By the time they reached the scene, Itachi lay flat on his back at the foot of the cliff, deathly still. Sasori ran to him, followed closely by Suigetsu and Karin—

—while Deidara tackled Sasuke to the ground with a roar.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” he screamed, straddling Sasuke’s stomach and raising his fist. His face was contorted with rage, canines sharp and bared. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” His fist fell, smacking dully against Sasuke’s unresisting cheek. Adrenaline coursed through his body—he saw red. “YOU’RE DEAD!”

Someone caught his wrist—it was Juugo, who shook his head when Deidara looked up at him.

Silently, Juugo pointed at Sasuke.

He was pale and trembling, with silent tears tracking down his cheeks.

Deidara crawled off him, falling heavily onto his hip, breathing like he’d just run a marathon.

Sasuke raised his hands in front of his face. The skin on both palms was torn open: rope burn.

“Tell me now, mn,” Deidara said in a dark voice. “And tell me the truth: did you mean to drop him?”

His face a mask of grief, Sasuke drew his knees up, threw his arms around them and lowered his head. Voice muffled, he replied in a sorrowful voice: “I did.”

Deidara lunged for him again, held back by both Juugo and Kisame this time.

“But I still grabbed the rope… I still grabbed the rope…” Sasuke mumbled.

Juugo and Kisame pulled Deidara to his feet. He stared down at Sasuke, not knowing what to think.

But what about Itachi? Deidara looked over to where Sasori and Suigetsu stood, Karin knelt, and Itachi… lay. Everyone collectively held their breath as Karin checked Itachi’s pulse. She put her finger to his wrist first, then his throat…

The seconds stretched on in silence. Kisame and Juugo helped Sasuke to his feet, but they stayed rooted where they were, each with a firm hand on one of Sasuke’s shoulders.

Not wanting to ask, but knowing someone had to, Deidara called in a wavering voice: “Is he… is Itachi...?”

His heart sank to his boot soles, almost certain he knew what the answer was going to be. No one could have survived a fall like that.

Suddenly, Karin cried out and everyone jumped. Her sobs muffled the words she was trying to utter, until finally, clear as a bell Deidara heard her weep:

“He’s alive!”

This was followed by the smallest of moans from Itachi.

He was alive.

Sasori whipped out his phone to call emergency services as Deidara, Kisame, Juugo and Sasuke cautiously approached. Deidara kept an eye on Sasuke: he did not trust the boy not to jump Itachi while he was down and try to finish the job.

Karin continued checking over Itachi’s body, hissing in sympathy as she discovered the frightening state of his ankles. She frowned as she listened to his breathing, and grew visibly uneasy as she tested his reactions.

“Itachi?” she called, looking for a response, pressing hard against his nailbed.

His eyes twitched beneath his lids, lashes fluttering as he tried to open them. 

“Itachi, can you hear me?” Karin asked.

Sasori covered the mouthpiece of his phone. “Karin, they want to know if he’s conscious.”

Karin shook her head. “Tell them E1V2M1 but it looks like he has fractures—”

“Sasuke!” Itachi coughed, eyes still closed. He twitched and groaned, unaware that his body was too broken to move.

“Give me the phone,” Karin barked, snatching it out of Sasori’s hand. 

While Karin described in rapid-fire detail every observation she could make of Itachi’s state, Sasuke sank to his knees beside Itachi.

Itachi’s eyelids fluttered, but he was unable to keep his eyes open. He moaned again.

「兄さん,」( _Nii-san_ ) Sasuke breathed, the tears in his eyes spilling over.

“Sasuke… forgive you,” Itachi murmured, his words suddenly articulate. “I deserve to die.”

“What?” Deidara and Karin exclaimed simultaneously.

Karin relayed the fact that Itachi had just spoken in a full sentence to the operator while Deidara, shocked by what Itachi had said, tried to get him to elaborate:

“Itachi, why would you say something like that, mn?”

Everyone waited for Itachi’s response, but Itachi just repeated: “Deserve to die.”

“You _should_ be dead, after a fall like that…” Deidara exclaimed as Karin tried to shoo him away. “But what could you have possibly done to deserve this, mn?”

“Get away from him Deidara,” Karin said. “You’re not helping!”

“Deserve to die. To die.”

Sasori placed a hand on Deidara’s arm. “He can’t hear you,” he said in a low voice. “He’s delirious.”

Karin finished up with the emergency services operator, nodding her head as they gave her some final instructions. She disconnected the call and handed the phone back to Sasori.

“The ambulance is on its way,” she said curtly. “Should be here in 30 minutes. She said normally they’d send the mountain rescue too, but there’s been a massive accident on the Teeth, which is apparently on the other side of the county and there’s no one to spare… In the meantime, we’re to administer as much first aid as we know. Any of you have rescue training?”

Kisame, Sasori and Deidara put their hands up. They’d each done at least one mountain rescue course during their time in Dawn.

“Okay,” Karin said, hands on her hips. “Is there a first aid kit?”

“In the van,” Kisame grunted, moving before she’d even finished the question.

“Get me clean gauze, water, elastic bandages, and something long to splint the fractures,” Karin continued. “We need to clean up the abrasions we can reach, note anything that’s bleeding, lessen the swelling. His ankles and heels are shot to hell, but I think he also broke his right wrist, maybe the elbow? But no one move him! His spine could be—” She took a deep breath.

“Sasori.” Karin addressed him without turning her head. “Can you monitor his pulse? Just keep a finger on his neck—”

Sasori knelt and placed his fingers at Itachi’s throat, but Karin grabbed his hand and repositioned it. “Right here. Tell me if it changes.”

Itachi moaned again. “Sasuke…”

Sasuke started forward, but flinched at Deidara’s glare. 

“You stay over there, Shithead, mn.”

Kisame returned with the first aid kit. Karin cracked it open and rifled through its contents, passing out elastic bandages, gauze, a bottle of disinfectant… Everyone—Suigetsu, Juugo, Sasori, Deidara and Kisame—jumped at the chance to take something, help her. Sasuke hung back, clearly wanting to help but Deidara and even Kisame glared at him every time he inched closer.

“Juugo, Suigetsu, help me do the splint,” Karin commanded. “Don’t roll the bandages too tight, and help me keep his feet at an incline, maybe that will reduce some swelling… The rest of you can start disinfecting these abrasions. No, not you, Sasori. Keep your finger on his pulse.”

They set to work swabbing disinfectant over Itachi’s arms, his legs where his pants had torn away, and his cheek, where a bruise was forming.

“Is there a blanket in the van?” Karin asked suddenly. “He feels cold.”

“His breathing is really weird, mn,” Deidara commented. “What’s—”

Karin looked up at him so sharply it stung. Deidara shut his mouth.

“Th-the blankets we used on the boulder last night are still in the van,” Sasuke volunteered. “I-I’ll go.”

But just as he turned to leave, the sound of someone slowly clapping echoed through the quarry. Gravel crunched beneath boots: someone was approaching.

“Well, well, well,” came a familiar voice. “What a mess!”

Everyone jumped to their feet when they saw him, stalking towards them from the west. His face was cloaked in shadow with the evening’s dying sun at his back.

"Surprised to see me?” he said, speaking with none of his usual playfulness. “I said I'd come on the trip…"

"Tobi…" breathed Sasuke. "You said… What are you doing here?"

It was dark now, but not so dark that they couldn’t make out the malicious grin on Tobi’s face.

"Cleaning up your messes again, it would seem, baby Sasuke,” he drawled. “And boy, have you made a mess of this.”


	6. Pre-eminent in Horror and Wickedness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Dawn Climbers, "Team Snake" Bonfire Night Expedition, Day 4, evening**  
>  The question you're all asking is: will Itachi make it? Read on, friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠Trigger warnings in this chapter (from tags): Fights, Fist Fights, Knife Fights, Blood, Blood and Injury, Medical Procedures. To elaborate, this chapter contains people getting beat up and cut by knives, and a fairly accurate description of emergency medical technicians doing their jobs.
> 
> Tsunade and Shizune cameo in this chapter, but for Plot Reasons they can't have Japanese names. Tsunade is "Izzy" (don't ask how/why, i picked an English name based on my misreading of Tsunade's kanji, and by the time i realised it this character owned the name "Izzy" so perfectly it was too late to change...) and Shizune is "Serena" (serene, quiet = the "shizu" part of her name 静)
> 
> if it's possible to SHOUT EVEN LOUDER, here i give the LOUDEST OF THE LOUDEST SHOUTS to @tropicalgothic for collaborating on this chapter. and of course all the love to JustAVampire for beta-reading~

The dying sunlight cast long shadows over the scene: Itachi on the ground, the Dawn Climbers on their feet around him, and a solitary figure with his back to the sun.

"Tobi…" breathed Sasuke. "You said… What are you doing here?"

"Cleaning up your messes again, it would seem, baby Sasuke,” he drawled, voice deeper, more threatening than usual. “And boy, have you made a mess of this.”

Without signaling each other, without saying a word, the Dawn Climbers and ‘Team Snake’ moved to form a wall between Tobi and Itachi. Sasuke stood at the center of the two groups, hanging back behind Sasori and Juugo.

"This ends here," Sasori said in that terrifyingly quiet voice of his, eyes sharp as knives. "And not the way you think, Tobi."

"Look," Tobi—no, Obito—said, spreading his hands wide and grinning at some joke that no one else understood, "Itachi’s time has come. Sasuke, why haven’t you finished him?”

“I…” Sasuke took a tentative step forward. He looked across at the Dawn Climbers and their steely expressions, at his friends with sympathy and worry etched all over their faces.

“Come on, Sasuke,” Obito goaded, “he killed your parents! Aunt Mikoto and Uncle Fugaku! Uncle Yakumi, Cousin Izumi… He killed them all! Just to prove himself.”

“That’s a lie!” Karin surprised everyone by interjecting. She ran forward, pausing only to glance backwards at Itachi. “The Uchiha were making something in that factory, and Itachi put a stop to it. There’s no other explanation.”

“Oh? Karin Uzumaki, is it? One of Orochimaru’s people…” Obito took a step closer, but then so did Kisame, Deidara, and Sasori.

Karin spoke again before Obito could continue, turning to Sasuke, taking his hands in hers.

“You have to believe us, Sasuke,” she said passionately, with pleading eyes. “Kabuto’s been collecting information about that day. He was going to tell you, show you the evidence that we found—”

“LIES!” Obito shouted over her, the whites of his eyes showing as he bared his teeth in a snarl. “Sasuke, are you really going to believe the Snakes? Over your own family?”

Sasuke shook his hands free of Karin’s.

“One of you _has_ to be lying…” he said slowly. He closed his eyes, thinking.

The sunlight died in the silence.

In the dim twilight, Sasuke’s eyes blazed when he opened them.

“The only one who can tell me the truth is Itachi,” he said. “I need to keep him alive.”

Obito sighed. “Wrong choice, cousin. I guess we do this the hard way.”

He spread his feet and arms: a fighting stance. The air crackled with electric tension.

"Unless you have a gun, Obito," Sasori began, edging forward as he tucked his phone into the breast pocket of his jacket, "you are going to have a hard time getting through us to murder Itachi before the ambulance arrives."

"Well—" Obito said as his hand dipped into his jacket pocket—

Everyone moved at once.

Karin and Juugo knelt to shield Itachi. Suigetsu dove for the stick he'd thrown down nearby. Kisame, Sasori and Sasuke all dashed towards Obito, but Deidara got there first.

Deidara could disarm an assailant in his sleep, even after all these years, even in this dim twilight. He dodged beneath Obito's extended arm, grappled it round and in a heartbeat the gun clattered to the quarry floor. Reacting fastest, Sasori kicked it far out of reach.

"Kisame!" Sasori cried. "Go get the van—it’s too dark to see anything!"

"Save a punch for me," Kisame replied as he changed track for the van.

Obito twisted out of Deidara 's grip. Knowing how well-trained Itachi was in martial arts, Deidara figured Obito would prove up to the challenge of taking on more than one opponent at once. He prayed Sasuke was equally competent, and that Suigetsu could wield a sword against more than just fruit.

Sasuke attacked first, fueled by the tumult of emotions cascading through his body. He punched, Obito blocked—it was clear that they often sparred together. They exchanged several blows before Obito, looking bored, knocked Sasuke flat on his back with one forceful shove.

Suigetsu jumped in next with a yowl, stick raised high. He thwacked Obito once, twice over the head, the shoulder, but on the third blow Obito caught the stick and snapped it across his knee. Wielding both ends like twin battle staves, he swung at Suigetsu, but the dancer evaded the blows as a fish might slip through stalks of seaweed. He kept himself out of Obito's reach.

Deidara passed close to Sasori as they circled, leaning close to whisper "I know he keeps a knife. Let me deal with it."

Sasori nodded and circled behind Obito.

Kisame pulled the van up, flooding the area with stark light. Obito was not distracted. As Deidara predicted, he drew his knife and lunged forward, trying to break through them to Itachi.

Deidara slammed into Obito's side, knocking him off his stride. When Obito turned the knife on him, Deidara followed it with his gaze, observing his grip, how he wielded it. Once the pattern was clear, Deidara stepped in and attempted to disarm. But Obito was ready for it this time. He dropped the knife into his other hand and back-slashed, slicing into the meat of Deidara's palm as he blocked the blow.

"Ah!" he hissed as a spray of blood arched through the air.

"Deidara!" Sasori cried.

Obito turned and slashed at Sasori, who danced backwards, light on his feet.

Now that Obito's back was turned on him, Deidara took the chance to try grappling him from behind—but Obito was taller and easily shook Deidara off. Obito spun and faced him, grinning.

"Juugo!" Deidara cried. "Now would be a good time to show off whatever it is you do for the yakuza, mn!" He cupped his right hand in his left palm, but blood still slapped to the ground in juicy drops.

Juugo and Kisame approached together, Juugo pushing past Deidara to disarm Obito of the knife far more efficiently than Deidara could even attempt. Deidara made a mental note to ask for a lesson. As the knife clattered against stone far out of reach and both Juugo and Kisame descended on him, Obito looked frightened for the first time.

But he did not surrender.

"Juugo! Left foot!" Sasori warned, spotting Obito's kick at its inception.

Juugo blocked the kick and jabbed with his fist, while Kisame aimed a kick at the back of Obito's knees.

Unable to block both at once, but still surprisingly agile, Obito took fifty percent of Juugo's punch and stumbled backwards, somehow managing to stay on his feet. But he hadn't noticed Sasori sneaking closer, so when Sasori swiped Obito’s feet out from under him with a well-placed swing of his leg, Obito fell hard on his ass.

In no time Juugo and Kisame were raining punches and kicks on Obito until he was curled up in a helpless ball. Deidara threw in a kick or two and spat on Obito's face.

"Enough," commanded Sasori.

Obito blinked up at them, left eye swollen shut, blood running down his face.

"Fucking run, Uchiha," Kisame sneered, cracking his knuckles. "I'll give you to the count of ten before—"

The wail of the ambulance siren cut through the air. Everyone turned their heads towards the approaching blue and red lights. When they looked down again, Obito had fled into the night.

“Quick, where did that gun land?” Deidara said, swinging his head around. He still held his injured hand, both hands now sticky with blood.

“Deidara, you need to take care of that cut first,” Sasori said, rushing up to him with concern written all over his face. “Don’t worry about the gun—”

“Found it,” Juugo called. The gun dangled in his grip; he had pulled down his shirtsleeves to avoid touching it with his bare hands.

“Fucking destroy it, mn!” Deidara exclaimed over the growing noise of the sirens. Sasori pulled him over to Itachi, where Karin was preparing a bandage for his hand.

“Better yet, go toss it in the pool,” Sasori murmured.

Juugo nodded and disappeared into the darkness.

The ambulance bounced over the uneven dirt path into the quarry and pulled up beside the van. The driver leapt out, and dashed around to the back of the vehicle. Her uniform revealed she was a paramedic, not just the driver. The back door swung open and she was joined by another paramedic. The two of them maneuvered a lightweight stretcher out and carried it over to where the Dawn Climbers were gathered.

“Where is the injured party?” the paramedic who had been in the back asked, an older woman with two blonde ponytails trailing from her cap and a serious expression on her face.

“Here!” Karin called, kneeling by Itachi’s side. Everyone else—Sasori, Deidara, Suigetsu, Kisame, Sasuke and the just-returned Juugo—stood close enough to keep an eye on Itachi but still out of the way.

The woman inhaled sharply when she saw Itachi. “Heavens, we’ve got work to do.” She turned to her colleague, a young woman with short black hair. “Serena, go get the defib—we might need to code—”

“I-think-he-has-a-collapsed-lung!” Karin said in a shrill voice, so quickly that the words blended together. She avoided everyone’s eyes but the paramedics. “He’s breathing so fast—I tried to percuss but I didn’t want to hurt him so I wasn’t sure? Hands’re clammy, his pulse is thready, trachea is—and the veins on his, on his neck—please-tell-me-you-can-help-him.”

The older paramedic knelt and addressed Itachi: “Sir, I’m a paramedic. I’ll just need to examine you.” She locked eyes with Karin, and quickly pressed her stethoscope against Itachi’s chest, first one side then the other.

“Serena!” she called after her colleague, “we need a needling kit, too! Possible tension pneumothorax!”

“Copy that, Izzy!” she called back.

The climbers stared at Karin. Sasori spoke first: “A collapsed lung? Why didn’t you say?”

“There was nothing we could do!” Karin shot back at him. “Let the paramedics deal with it.”

Serena returned, toting an armful of kits, packages, and a tablet. She lay the supplies on the ground and the two paramedics jumped into action. One held the tablet while the other called out vital signs, flinging phrases like “blood pressure dropping,” “he’s tachycardic,” “…respirations,” and “oxygenation…” into the still night air. Then they set to work swabbing skin, stabbing needles, cutting away his shirt, swabbing skin, stabbing needles, attaching IV fluids, swabbing the skin of his upper chest, stabbing needles—

“Woah, what the hell are they doing, mn?” Deidara stepped forward as Izzy plunged a huge needle deep into Itachi’s upper chest. There was a click and an exhale hissed out of the needle.

“It’s fine,” Karin said, tearing her gaze from Itachi to shoot an impatient look at Deidara. “They have to decompress the—the—fuck, you don’t need to know the technical details just let them work!”

“Check the blood pressure again,” Izzy barked. The two paramedics threw commands and numbers at each other as if the rest of them weren’t there. Serena slipped a curved tube into Itachi’s mouth, and an oxygen mask onto his face.

Deidara instinctively turned and buried himself in Sasori’s embrace. Sasori wrapped his arm around Deidara and ran a soothing hand up and down his back.

“What’s his name?” Izzy asked curtly as she took a peek at the little blue box clamped on Itachi’s finger. One of her pigtails flipped forward; she flicked it over her shoulder again.

“He’s called Itachi,” Karin replied. “I’m Karin. I can help you with some basic things. Just tell me what to do.”

“Walk me through his injuries,” Izzy said. “I see you’ve splinted the right arm…”

Karin gave her a rundown, then Izzy began quickly testing Itachi’s responses just as Karin had, calling his name, pinching his nailbed. She made notes on the tablet, documenting every scratch, every laceration, every swollen joint.

Izzy gently raised Itachi’s head as Serena moved the cervical collar into position to support his neck. The bruise on Itachi’s cheek was livid. His eyes were closed. In the collar, with the oxygen mask over his mouth and an IV access needle sticking out of his hand, he looked frighteningly vulnerable.

Once the collar was in place, Serena stood, tablet in hand.

“Excuse me,” she said politely, addressing the climbers. “I need a bit more information about the patient. Are any family members present?”

Sasori, Kisame and Sasuke all stepped forward. Kisame threw an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders, pressing down _hard_. Kisame and Sasori exchanged looks.

If Serena thought this strange, she didn’t show it. Instead, she fired question after question at them.

“What’s his full name?”

“Itachi Uchiha,” Sasori replied, stepping up to Serena’s side to make sure she spelled it correctly.

“His age?”

“Twenty-eight.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“‘Bout an hour ago?” Kisame rumbled.

“Can you be more specific?”

“It was just after 5 o’clock,” Sasuke said softly. Kisame pressed down on his shoulders a little harder.

“This was an accident?”

All three of them stiffened. Sasori’s glare stabbed into Sasuke. He held the young Uchiha’s gaze as he replied: “Yes.”

“How high was the fall?”

“Thirty-five meters,” Kisame replied immediately. “He was at the top of the climb.”

“Was he wearing a helmet?”

“No.” Sasori glared harder at Sasuke, whose Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. He squirmed beneath Kisame’s heavy arm.

“Did he lose consciousness?”

“No, he was kinda… trying to speak,” Kisame said.

“Was he intoxicated?”

“No.” Sasori was firm. “None of us were. Are.”

“Are you family?” she asked, eyes slipping to Sasuke.

He nodded. “I’m…th-the younger brother,” he quavered.

“I’m going to ask some questions about his medical history. The more you can tell me the better.”

“Uh…” Sasuke shifted uneasily and his gaze slipped to the ground.

“Does he have any medical conditions? Take any medications?”

Sasori took over. “He was on some antidepressants last I checked, but I don’t know which.”

Serena looked up sharply.

“And you are…? Itachi’s…?”

“I’m his friend,” Sasori explained. “Kisame and I have known him for a long time.” _And we know him better than Sasuke_ , his gaze implied.

Nonplussed, Serena continued: “What’s his blood type?”

“AB.”

“Any allergies?”

As Sasori and Kisame continued to respond to Serena’s questions, Izzy recruited Karin and Deidara to help place Itachi on the stretcher. The device unclipped into two halves, which they placed on either side of Itachi’s body. Then they took turns gently rolling him and sliding the halves beneath his body, one at a time.

“What have you done to your hand!” Izzy exclaimed when she caught sight of Deidara’s bloody bandage.

Sasori heard him mumble a response, but didn’t catch the explanation he gave.

“You’re taking this really well,” Serena commented to Sasori and Kisame. “Such clear answers. Usually everyone’s a mess in an accident like this…”

Kisame and Sasori exchanged another look. How could they explain to her why they were on high-alert? Their calculated, methodical responses to her questions allowed them to pretend it was just a normal accident rather than face what had gone on moments before the paramedics’ arrival. No one was ready to admit to an outsider that this had been an attempted murder and that regardless of what he’d told Obito, none of them could say for certain whether or not Sasuke would try again.

Finally, Izzy called Serena over: they were ready to load Itachi into the ambulance. Serena tucked her tablet away and rushed over to the stretcher.

“We’re taking the blond with us,” Izzy grumbled as they bent down and gripped the stretcher handles. “Orthopedics needs to take a look at the cut on his hand… might be muscle or nerve damage.”

“And the brother,” Serena quickly added as they stood. “You can treat the rope burn on his hands if there’s time on the way.”

“Do you need any help?” Sasori asked. It had not escaped his attention that both paramedics were female.

“We’ve got this, young man,” Izzy barked. “Please step back and let us work.”

Izzy and Serena lifted Itachi’s stretcher with strong, steady arms, and traversed the rocky ground in swift, steady strides.

As they headed for the ambulance, Deidara sidled over to Sasori, picking at the makeshift bandage around his palm.

“She just called you ‘young man’!” he whispered into Sasori’s ear. “‘Let them work’, Danna! Women are just as str—”

“Okay, stop it,” Sasori growled, jabbing Deidara in the ribs.

“Come on, Blondie! Little Brother!” Izzy called over her shoulder.

Everyone trailed after them to the ambulance. Deidara slipped his uninjured hand into Sasori’s as they walked, leaning into him tiredly.

“I wish you could come with us in the ambulance, mn.”

“We’ll be right behind you in the van,” Sasori replied. “Make sure Itachi’s alright.”

Deidara nodded, rubbing his cheek against Sasori’s shoulder.

At the back of the ambulance, Izzy climbed up first, slowly mounting the step backwards and raising Itachi’s stretcher onto the bed. Once Serena followed with Itachi’s feet and Itachi was secure, she jumped back down to the ground.

When Deidara gave her a questioning glance, she replied “We’re short-staffed. I have to drive… Get in!”

Sasori pecked Deidara on the cheek and rested a hand on his forearm.

“See you soon,” he said, addressing both Deidara and Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded, a grim set to his jaw and turmoil in his dark eyes. He turned and climbed into the ambulance.

Deidara stepped up to Sasori for one more kiss, then touched their foreheads together. “See you soon, mn.”

Sasuke was already seated on one of the ambulance’s fold-down chairs. Deidara climbed up, barely finding a seat before Izzy slammed the door shut. Out the back window, he could see the Dawn Climbers lined up, looking grave in the glare of the taillights. Sasori raised his hand in farewell just as Serena put the ambulance in drive. They tore out of the quarry, sirens wailing.

Izzy stood over Itachi, checking attachments to things Deidara only remotely understood: a heart rate monitor? an IV drip? oxygen? She lifted an enormous pair of scissors—

“Woah, what the hell are those for?” Deidara said, his heart pounding.

“I have to cut him out of these clothes,” Izzy stated. Snip. Riiiiip. She started with his hoodie sleeve, the one that Karin had rolled up to Itachi’s elbow in order to splint the right arm.

“What, all of them? You’re just going to strip him naked right now? Seems unnecessary. Maybe a little pervy, mn.”

Izzy squinted at him. “I need to remove his clothing _right here, right now_ because if there’s an injury we missed, Serena and I will be in deep shit. You want to help me? It’ll go faster if you help me rip.”

“Fine,” Deidara shrugged. He stepped over Sasuke’s legs to stand beside Izzy.

Under any other circumstances, Deidara might have found the prospect of helping someone tear Itachi’s clothes off rather thrilling. But seeing Itachi laid out on the stretcher like that—pale, tossing fitfully, moaning at their touch—just about broke his heart.

“He’s gonna be okay, right?” he murmured to Izzy as she slipped her scissors into Itachi’s hoodie collar—snip—and the bottom hem—snip—then instructed Deidara to rip it open while she moved to the final sleeve.

She replied without looking up from her task. “We’ll do our best. But I’m not gonna sugar-coat this: there’s a lot of damage.”

Next the t-shirt. Izzy inspected every inch of Itachi’s upper body, documenting the abrasions and bruises she found. She covered his torso with a sort of sheet, then moved to the lower body. Deidara helped her tear through Itachi’s trousers. And underwear. He averted his eyes as they rolled Itachi’s body from side to side so Izzy could complete her scan.

When he was no longer needed, Deidara returned to his seat. Sasuke sat with his elbows on his knees, head hanging low. Unsure whether it was the motion of the vehicle or something else, Deidara’s stomach was churning. He felt lightheaded. While he waited for Izzy to finish doing whatever she was doing to Itachi, Deidara’s gaze wandered the interior of the vehicle.

The ambulance was newer, but cluttered with equipment. It was clear that the paramedics spent a lot of time here, but that some pieces of equipment received more use than others. There were homey touches too: photos and magazine clippings had been taped to the walls, and in a cup holder near Deidara's elbow rested a hot pink thermos that claimed it was "Probably Mostly Coffee."

“Younger brother, let me see those hands,” Izzy said. Deidara looked up. She’d finished with Itachi and covered him completely with the sheet.

“My name’s Sasuke.”

Izzy rubbed disinfectant into Sasuke’s palms. He hissed in pain and jerked away.

“Sasuke, Itachi… where are you kids from with names like that?” Izzy queried as she rubbed a thick gel into Sasuke’s palms and loosely wrapped them in gauze.

“Our family is Japanese…” Sasuke muttered. “We’re from Foldon.”

His eyes kept drifting to Itachi.

“Don’t worry kid,” she said gruffly. “We’re doing everything we can for him. The County Hospital has top-notch facilities, despite being way out here in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t be headed to a better place.”

The words shot down Deidara’s spine. Something about the way she said it… was unsettling. What kind of “place” might Itachi be heading to if he _weren’t_ in an ambulance right now? Sasuke swallowed. He looked as shaken as Deidara felt.

Izzy slapped her hands onto her thighs. “Alright, that’s you done, Little Brother. Blondie, your turn.”

Deidara stood and swapped seats with Sasuke. He extended his bloody, bandaged hand to Izzy, who grimaced and began peeling the gauze away. Exposed, the wound was gruesome: it split deep into Deidara’s palm and curved around the edge of his hand. When he wiggled it, the flesh moved apart not unlike a mouth. Blood trailed out of it, dripping down his arm into the rolled-up sleeve at his elbow.

“Stop that!” Izzy chastened. She had a powerful voice. “You’re going to need stitches on this, hon. All I can do for now is pack it up with gauze, but you have to stop moving it or it’ll just keep bleeding.”

She swabbed it with a biting disinfectant. Deidara grit his teeth but withheld any cries of pain, determined not to look like as much of a wuss as Sasuke.

After Izzy secured the cut with clean gauze, she wiped her hands with a disinfectant wipe and picked up her tablet.

“What’s your name?” she asked brusquely.

“Deidara, mn.”

“Deidara what?” She looked up at him.

Deidara scowled. He hated giving his surname.

“C’mon Blondie, I don’t have all day. You’re gonna have to do this paperwork at the hospital anyway.”

“Stone,” he said dully. “Deidara Stone, mn.”

“Stone?” Izzy’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Stone, like the Stone Foundation? Are you related to Representative Stone?”

Deidara rolled his eyes. _Everyone_ in this country knew his father.

He continued hotly: “What else do you need to know? Male, twenty-four—you writing this down?—blood type AB, no allergies, legally blind in my left eye, on which I had minor reconstructive surgery four years ago… And I’ve got two pins in my elbow from breaking it three years ago. This is the third time I’ve ridden in an ambulance for an injury, I know the drill well enough. Anything else? Mn.”

Izzy lifted an eyebrow, and entered this data into her tablet.

“How’d you cut your hand?”

“I didn—”

Deidara checked himself. In his frustration, he’d almost spilled that it had been Sasuke’s asshole of a cousin.

“I… uh, didn’t… mean to. Cut… myself, mn,” he lied. “I was cutting… um… potatoes. A potato. Rescue knives are sharper than they look.” He attempted to shrug sheepishly. “Heh.”

She was very unconvinced. “Sure. Garden-variety idiocy. ‘Boys will be boys’… I guess…” she sighed. She made a note on her tablet. “What happened to your eye?”

“Do you need to know that for your records or are you just being nosy, mn?” Deidara shot back. Feeling defensive, he planted his foot on his seat, hugged his leg to his chest, and rested his chin on his knee.

Izzy shrugged. “I’m just curious. You have a lot of burns on your arms.”

“I’m an artist, mn,” Deidara scowled.

Izzy waited for further explanation. Deidara continued to pout.

The conversation lapsed into an uneasy silence on the backdrop of the siren’s constant wail, punctuated by Itachi’s sporadic moans.

Izzy looked over at Sasuke, whose concerned yet calculating eyes had not left Itachi for quite some time.

“I don’t want to ask,” she began slowly, “because it’s none of my business… but I can’t help but put two and two together. You dropped him, didn’t you?”

Sasuke leveled his gaze at her, his expression equal parts nervous and determined. He swallowed. “I… did.”

“It was an accident,” Deidara murmured, lifting his gaze from the floor to study Sasuke’s face. “Mn.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke breathed. His dark eyes fixed on Itachi. “Yeah, it was an accident.”

“Look, kid…” Izzy said, spreading her hands. Gentle understanding filled her soft brown eyes. “We see this sort of thing all the time out here. Five or six times a year, something serious like this, little accidents more often, especially in the summer when the weather’s nice… But, I think this is the worst I’ve ever seen. Why wasn’t he wearing a helmet?”

Sasuke had no answer for her.

Itachi groaned once, then again, and then the groans resolved into words:

“I… I… deserved. This…”

“Jesus,” Izzy hissed, leaping to her feet. “Itachi? Can you hear me?”

She pulled back Itachi’s eyelids. From where Deidara was sitting, he could see that Itachi’s eyes did not focus on the paramedic.

“…deserve…”

“Itachi?” Izzy called. Her eyebrows were pinched together. “This is Izzy, the paramedic. Can you raise your left hand for me?”

He didn’t respond. Izzy sighed heavily and sank back into her seat. She rested her elbows on her knees, pressed her hands together as if in prayer, and held them just in front of her mouth. There was nothing more she could do. Itachi was no more conscious than he had been when they’d boarded the ambulance.

“..de…ser… this.”

Deidara drew up his other knee, hugged his legs close, and buried his face in them.

“No, you don’t…” he muttered under his breath.


End file.
